Falling To Darkness
by gonyonomaru
Summary: MadaraOC. "You belong to me, woman," Madara sneered as he pinned her arms above her head. She gasped and struggled, but it was useless. No one could escape from Uchiha Madara.
1. The Deal

Hello! This is my latest story and once again, I am writing a Madara x OC fanfiction. Spoilers will come eventually, but for now, the story starts in the past.

_**Chapter 1- The Deal. **_

"Uchiha Madara. I knew you were not dead," a young shinobi stated blankly in the middle of a gloomy, dense forest. Another, deeper voice chuckled in response.

"I have a deal for you," he continued despite not being able to see his target.

"My, my, you are so serious aren't you? Not even a 'hello' to greet me," the voice responded and stepped out of the shadows. The younger Uchiha briefly glanced at the elder Uchiha and activated his Sharingan.

"You seem a little too young to posses the Sharingan," Madara stated; more serious now.

"You want revenge on the Uchiha," he replied as he looked Madara in the eye through the mask that the elder Uchiha was sporting. The former Uchiha clan leader smirked. "So I do, what about it?"

"I will let you help me kill the Uchiha clan entirely," the raven said as if it was not a horrible massacre. Madara was silent for a moment, but then he said, "And in return?"

"I need a skilled ninja to teach me to fight."

"Tell me your name," Madara commanded.

"Uchiha Itachi."

Madara's smirk widened. "Uchiha Itachi, you have a deal."

...

"Hokage-sama, you called for me?"

The door creaked open as Mika walked into the generously proportioned, spacious office.

"Yes, I have an important mission for you," the Hokage stated as he leaned back in his chair and pointed to a folder on the desk.

"You will go to Earth Country and retrieve a secret jutsu scroll. You are forbidden from looking inside. I trust you with this one," he continued and looked Mika in the eyes.

"I will not let you down," she said as she flashed him a smile. She made a small bow, picked up the file and left the office quickly. This was just another routine mission; nothing special. Briefly remembering the route to Earth Country, Mika made her way back to her apartment and packed a few essentials. It was a three day run and she needed food, money and weapons.

She slung her small pack onto her back, stretched and jumped out of the window. The sooner she got to her destination, the sooner she could collect her pay and add it to her little savings stash. She ran past the weapons shop and smiled when she saw the glitter from a feudal katana on the display case. For a few months now, she had been squirreling away as much money as possible to get that magnificent weapon.

"I'll have you soon enough," she whispered and increased her pace. There was a long day ahead of her. The trail she was using was narrow and had lots of twists and turns.

As the boring, silent minutes ticked by, her mind wandered to the details of her mission. More specifically, the lack of them. In every mission she usually got a long briefing over where to meet the target, what she was supposed to receive and why. However, this time there had been minimal facts. The Hokage hadn't even given her a date for when to be back with the scroll. Plus, all that had been said in the file was that she could at no cost, look into the scroll.

Mika shook her head and decided to think about something more positive and time consuming. For example, what new jutsu she could try learning. A smirk crept on her face when she remembered seeing an Uchiha clan member using a massive lightning jutsu. From what she had heard, this 'super jutsu' required no chakra at all and it was able to harness the lightning power of storm clouds. Briefly, she wondered what other nature powered techniques were out there.

Suddenly, roots shot out of the ground and one of them latched onto her foot. Mika's eyes widened as she was thrown forward. The world spun and then crashed back onto her as she felt herself rolling on the ground. Dirt somehow managed to get into her mouth and she clenched it shut to prevent any more dirt from getting in.

"Ugh!"

Mika mentally swore as she felt her roll come to an abrupt end as she smashed into a tree. The breath was knocked out of her and for a split second time seemed to stop. However, pain suddenly exploded in her head and she groaned.

"Damn it," she muttered as she looked at her injuries. The blinding head ache told her that she had a concussion and the small puddle of blood on the ground indicated something a little worse. Mika grimaced as she lifted her limp right arm up and more blood poured out.

Any thoughts about jutsu were completely gone as she frantically tried to figure out how to heal her arm. It did not feel broken, but she was loosing a lot of blood. She reached behind her to try and get the first aid kit in her backpack, but all she felt was the clothes on her back.

Frowning, she tried to stand up, but grit her teeth when she felt pain shoot up her leg. Now she could not walk or use her right hand. Her brain frantically searched for a possible solution for what to do. Once again, she clenched her arm to try and stop the blood. Her breath was now erratic and her thoughts were becoming less and less focused.

"No... I won't die here," she whispered, but then let out a deep groan. Unexpectedly, there was a rustle in the bushes around her and she tensed up; only to send more pain radiating through her body.

"Who's there," Mika bit out as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"Look what we have here, a Konoha shinobi," a deep voice said from behind her. She craned her neck to turn around, but she did not see anyone.

"Who's there," she repeated, but more cautiously.

"I have many names, but that doesn't matter right now. You are about to die," the voice cleverly avoided her question as it got closer to her.

"Show yourself," Mika tried to say confidently, but another wave of pain made her voice crack in the middle of the sentence. A dark shadow stepped out of the bushes and her eyes widened when she saw the eye of the masked stranger.

"The Sharingan! You are from Konoha! Help me, please I am on an important mission," she blurted out anxiously.

"I am not from Konoha, but I will help you only if you agree to my deal," he said. Her hope sunk and she shivered at the tone of this voice. Something was not right about this man.

"I will save your life, but only if you agree to become my servant until I am done with you," he said in a dark, serious tone. Mika frowned and coughed before saying, "Are you insane? I am on a mission and I cannot stop to be someone's servant."

"Pity, and here I was actually going to help you," he said and turned around. He started walking away and she gasped, "Wait! You're going to leave me here?"

"You refused my deal. I have no choice but to leave you to die," he replied without turning around. Mika took a couple of deep breaths before desperately groaning, "Alright, I agree, but please don't let me die!"

He smirked and turned around again before walking up to her and crouching down. It was then that she was able to see that he was wearing an orange mask with black horizontal tiger stripes on it.

"Thank you," she whispered as he took out a roll of bandages. He chuckled. "That is not what you will be saying by the time I'm done with you."

...

"I never thought of you as someone who likes pets," a distant voice echoed in her head.

"No, Itachi, this is not a pet, but rather, a training partner for you," a more familiar, but sinister voice stated. Mika cautiously opened her eyes to look around her surroundings.

The last thing she remembered was running through the forest and being tripped by roots. She furrowed her brow as she tried to remember what had happened after that.

Turning her head, she saw that she was no longer in the forest. Instead, she was in a room with bleak grey walls that resembled a jail cell. Her eyes widened when she saw the strange man from before. He was still wearing an all black outfit and the odd, one eyed mask. His long hair was cascading down his back and it was a deep shade of pure, rich onyx.

However, there was another person beside him. The other man was shorter and he had two lines going down his face. His hair was not as long as the elder Uchiha's and it was neatly tied in a ponytail.

"Who are you?" she whispered and both of them turned to look at her. She instantly regretted saying anything when she saw their blood, red Sharingan eyes piercing through her.

"No. She is a woman," the shorter man commented. Mika narrowed her eyes and tried to stand up, but that was when she realized that she was still injured. Right... her fall... Instead, she settled for retorting, "You got something against women, Uchiha?"

He glared at her, but she held her gaze. The masked man noticed the sudden tension and piped in, "Now, now, before you start hating each other, let me introduce you."

He gestured to the shorter man and said, "That is Uchiha Itachi, protégé of the Uchiha clan and your ticket to freedom."

Confusion passed through her eyes, but the masked man continued, "Itachi, she is Mika Aranuki and she is going to be your training puppet."

Both people turned to glare at the masked man.

"Ticket to freedom? Training puppet? Who are you?" she said cautiously as she once again attempted to stand up. This time, it worked, but she sourly realized that she was the shortest person present.

"I have many names... But you can call me Madara," he said and she imagined he smirked under the mask. Suddenly, she gasped and flashbacked to her Academy days. She remembered learning Uchiha clan history and a sinister figure named 'Madara' had been mentioned.

"Uchiha Madara! You're dead!" she blurted out when she made the connection of this man to the one that had fought Hashirama Senju and died years before.

"Am I really?" he said, his voice deepening to a sneer. For the first time, she realized that she was in grave danger. She looked around again and she saw that the jail cell like room was adjoined to a large cave.

"You're a traitor and Uchiha Itachi, you are a traitor as well if you are around Madara," Mika whispered with growing worry. She knew full well what happened to ninja's that had been captured by traitors. They either fought their way out or died. She glanced at the two Uchiha men again. There was no way she could escape them. "What do you want from me?"

"As I was explaining, you are going to be Itachi's training puppet," Madara said as he crossed his arms. Mika stayed quiet, though she was not happy with the 'puppet' suffix, as she waited for him to continue.

"In the forest, you promised to become my servant until I was done with you. This is your task. Everyday you will train with Itachi until I see fit. Your service will end when he is strong enough."

The cave went silent as Mika evaluated her options. She could claim defiance and eventually get herself killed because of it, or she could also pretend to be loyal. Madara had probably seen every single type of response already so she crossed both options off.

Instead, she changed the subject by saying, "Why me? Why did you bring me to fight a protégé if I am only a moderately strong ninja? Surely someone like you could have chosen a stronger person."

"I could have, but you were the only one stupid enough to fall for the root trap," he mocked. Her eyes widened and she pointed an accusing finger at the elder Uchiha. "You're the reason I'm injured! You're also the reason why I agreed to that damn deal! You tricked me!"

Madara chuckled and replied, "Yelling will get you nowhere. But why don't you use that anger against Itachi in battle?"

Mika raised an eyebrow on the outside, but on the inside she was panicking.

"I am still injured," she stated in an attempt to make them realize she was in no shape to fight an alleged protégé.

"I know," Madara responded as he took another step toward her. Uncomfortable with the closeness, she tried to step back, but grit her teeth when pain shot up her leg. She should have stayed seated. What was the point of standing up if she couldn't walk?

He took another step forward and suddenly everything turned into a blur. Mika gasped as she tried to keep her sense of up and down, but it was pointless because everything was spinning. It stopped as abruptly as it had begun and she saw that she was now in a different room.

This one was much, much larger and it had different weapons lining the walls. Itachi was also there and he was walking toward the wall, where he chose a short dagger and examined it. Mika looked around again and it was just in time too because at that moment, Madara threw an unsheathed, rusty katana at her.

She barely caught it and she made a mental note not to cut herself with it because it was bound to give her an infection. As she looked the old katana over, she did not notice when Itachi came to stand a few feet in front of her. Mika looked up when Madara cleared his throat. The elder Uchiha was by the wall of weapons and his arms were crossed.

"Uchiha Itachi, Aranuki Mika, commence your fight!"

_**To be continued...**_

There it is... The first chapter!

Any thoughts?


	2. The Punishment

Hello! This is the second chapter. Madara really starts to show his true colors...

_**Chapter 2- The Punishment.**_

"Uchiha Itachi, Aranuki Mika, commence your fight!" Madara announced. Mika's eyes widened and she tightened the grip on her katana. Itachi wasted no time as he charged straight at her.

She swore under her breath as she jumped back to avoid the blow, but then landed on her weak ankle. Not only could she not run, but she couldn't even properly wield her weapon because her right arm was injured. The younger Uchiha was coming at her again, yet this time, she stood her ground and used her katana to take the full force. Her feet started sliding as she found herself being forced back.

Turning her katana, Mika tried to stab Itachi, but he was quicker than her so he managed to avoid her blow and swing his fist forward. She bent backwards and gasped when she saw the first pass right over her. However, it was far from over because Itachi then struck down, which hit her right in the face.

Mika hissed at the pain, but then used her foot to kick the Uchiha away from her. He jumped back and she felt her cheek. That was definitely going to bruise. She made no move to attack him, but instead, got into a defensive position. Itachi's face was passive as he charged once more.

This time, she was a little more prepared so she was able to block to the side, instead of just head on. Still, she was at a horrible disadvantage. Mika jumped back again and decided to try a tactic of a different sort. "So, Itachi, I've heard about you in Konoha."

He made no inclination of even hearing her speak so she continued, "Quite a few interesting things were said... Including what your weakness is."

She was totally bluffing, but she was willing to do anything to get her odds up.

"I do not have a weakness," Itachi replied as he took out several kunai and threw them at her. Mika managed to block three of them with her katana, but one managed to nip her side, while another had grazed her leg. She did her best to not dwell on the pain, but it was everywhere.

"Yes you do and Itachi, it is quite an unfortunate weakness. I'm glad I don't have it," she replied after taking a few deep breaths. She cast one glance at Madara, who was still standing by the wall watching. Itachi was close to her again so she stopped talking to avoid his punches and stabs.

Suddenly, as she was backing up, she felt her back against the wall. The younger Uchiha drew back to stab her and she ducked. However, he had been expecting that so he grabbed her by the throat and pressed her against the wall. Then, he brought a dagger to her throat and said, "You loose. I do not have a weakness."

Mika tried to draw in a breath, but found that she couldn't. Narrowing her eyes, she kneed Itachi between the legs. A triumphant grin emerged on her face, but then it turned into a look of pure horror when a sharp pain blossomed on her knee. Itachi glared down at her and she bit out, "Crotch brace... That's cheating."

And thus, her bluff fell apart. She had been hoping that Itachi would have been vulnerable to genital attacks. The Uchiha let her go and she took in a much needed breath.

"Good job Itachi, now you may go to your room. I will train with you later because Mika was such a poor partner," Madara spoke up. She was still catching her breath when the elder Uchiha came to stand in front of her.

"You remember why I brought you here, right?" he began. Clutching her head, she groaned before replying, "To be Itachi's training partner. Or maybe you just want me to suffer. I don't really care either way."

"That's right. You are supposed so be helping Itachi improve. However, today you proved to be quite disappointing," Madara continued in a condescending tone. Mika's anger flared up as she hissed, "Maybe I wouldn't be so damn weak if you hadn't rendered me unable to walk or fight!"

_Slap._

She had not even seen it coming, but suddenly, her other cheek stung and she was sprawled on the floor. "Remember who you are talking to, wench," he sneered as he moved to loom over her. Mika was about to try and stand up, but he suddenly kicked her in the stomach. The pain was wretched, but she had no intention of showing him that and schooled her face to be blank.

Madara bent down to pick her up by the hair and shove her against the nearest wall. "Here is the situation: The less time you train with Itachi, the more I will hurt you afterward. The more time you train with Itachi, the less I will hurt you."

She swallowed and tasted blood, though she was unsure whether the bleeding was internal or from her jaw. Honestly, she would not be surprised if it was both.

"Alright, I understand," she said. Underneath his mask, Madara smirked and continued, "Good. However, you cannot really understand something until you've been through it. Why don't I give you a demonstration?"

Mika instinctively put her hands in front of her face and shut her eyes.

"Now that won't do. Open your eyes, woman," the elder Uchiha ordered. She made no move to comply with his command, so he grabbed her by the hair again and pulled. As expected, she let out a yell and her eyes snapped open. Just at that moment, he activated his Sharingan and looked her in the eyes. With a gasp, she shut her eyes once more, but it was too late.

"How do you like my humble abode?" his deep, masculine voice said from around her. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes to look around. Her jaw was clenched as she witnessed a horribly grotesque scene in front of her. There were skulls, rotting corpses and decapitated bodies all around. The sky was a bloody maroon and there wasn't a single spot on the ground that wasn't covered with something red or decomposing. A vile mixture of various bodily fluid blended together to stain the bodies an unpleasant shade of green and brown. Mika simply felt sick and the putrid stench was not very helpful either. Still, she had to remind herself that this was just a genjutsu and that none of it was real. Everything was just so realistic.

"Home decor really isn't your forte," she replied to his earlier question. She still had no idea where Madara was and she really did not want to know.

Suddenly, there as a cracking noise and her head snapped to look at a pile of dead bodies. Her eyes narrowed and she got into a defensive position when one of the limbs in the mess moved.

"Zombie attack? Really, Madara, I thought you were more creative than that," she muttered as she watched the bodies stand up and start to saunter toward her. They reached for her with their hands in the air and she sighed. Unexpectedly, she heard a loud patter of feet. She was quite horrified to see the zombies were running. Throwing caution into the wind, she sprinted away and she was content to see that her ankle was uninjured in the genjutsu.

Though she was ahead of the pack, it bothered her that all the corpses she could see where starting to get up as well. Ten minutes later, she was still running, but she was getting out of breath and the zombies seemed to be getting faster. Mika skidded to a halt when a giant mass of bodies emerged from the ground in front of her. She looked around; there was one hoard behind her and another in front.

Gathering her chakra, she did the seals for the Fireball Jutsu. Then, she took a deep breath and blew out a massive ball of fire at the nearest bunch of zombies.

"How do you know that jutsu?" a voice behind her demanded and she whipped around to see the tall, shadowy figure of Uchiha Madara.

"Talk later; fight the undead now," she yelled before unleashing another fireball. The zombies turned to ash and she grinned. There were still thousands left, though.

"Answer me," Madara continued and made the ground under her cave into a large hole. Mika gasped as the ground beneath her feet vanished, but she wasted no time and immediately started trying to climb out. However, the skeletal arms that reached out from the walls were not very helpful.

"I watched the Uchiha train! Then I just copied the hand seals and it worked!" she uttered in a hurry in hopes of getting the attack to stop. Madara did not reply and instead, he ordered more zombies to jump into the hole.

"Wait! I answered your question!" she yelled as she kicked a zombie away.

"I never said I was going to stop the attack," he replied. Growling, Mika continued to use hand to hand combat to fight the zombies off, but there were just so many. When she got rid of one, two more came in to take its place. They were reaching out from underground as well so she soon found that her legs were trapped. Another jumped up from above and latched onto her head.

"It's just a dream! Wake up already!" she screamed both from the frustration of failure and the pain of having every limb pulled into different directions.

"You will not wake up until I want you to," Madara said from somewhere above her, but her sense of direction was lost. Gathering the last of her strength, Mika brought her chakra to her skin as a sort of shield. Some of the zombies hissed and let go of her. However, they then employed a different tactic by jumping into a pile to try and crush her. She couldn't breathe, but she was still struggling. Her thought was that she could not die in genjutsu, right?

Her mind started going numb and she choked. White spots were forming in her vision and she could no longer feel her limbs. Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in her chest and she was blinded with a bright white light. The zombies were gone and she was standing in a tunnel bathed in light.

Was she dead?

She turned around and started running away from the light. There was no way she was going to die now. As she got deeper into the darkness, it surrounded her and she couldn't even see her arms. Suddenly, Mika ran into something hard and fell backwards with a thud.

"What the...?" she muttered as she stumbled up and rubbed her head.

"Where do you think your going?" a deep voice questioned.

"Madara? You're dead too? Oh thank God! Go to the light!" she said.

"Neither of us is dead, fool. We are still in the genjutsu," he sneered. Frowning, she turned around and started running the other way. Once again, she ran into something hard and when she reached out, she could feel that it was a wall. To her side, there was another wall; the same situation was for the area behind her. "What is this?" she whispered as she felt there to be another wall above her. She was officially trapped.

As she felt the walls again, she noticed there were small spikes sticking out. The dots in her head connected, but it was too late to do anything because three inch long nails shot out of the walls and into her from every side. A bloodcurdling scream ripped through her throat and her face contorted into an expression of pure pain. Her lungs were collapsing; her vital organs were destroyed; her brain was rendered useless; and yet, she was still awake. She could feel the blood flowing down her skin and she groaned.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" she screamed in between coughing up blood.

Mika dare not move in fear of aggravating her injuries any further.

"It's just a dream," she whispered as she tried to imagine herself waking up and being free of all the pain.

"If you want to be free, all you have to do is beg," Madara's voice broke through her foggy mind. She closed her blood-covered eyes and replied, "If only it were that simple."

"But it is," he reassured her. She would have shook her head, but she feared it would send even more pain pulsing through her body. Instead, she settled for saying, "I will beg and beg, but then you will say that you changed your mind. At least this way, I will have my pride in tact."

"Is your pride more important that your sanity?" he asked as he made the walls disappear so she fell to the ground. He walked over to her, picked her up by the neck and pressed her up against another wall that had appeared.

"Tell me, woman, is it?" he sneered and suddenly his hand was inside her chest cavity. The action had been so unexpected that she simply did not know what to do. His hand wrapped around her heart and she soundlessly stared at him with an expression of pure shock. Her heart beat quickly against his hand and she choked out, "Stop... Please."

"What did you say? I didn't hear you," he mocked as he leaned closer to her and gave her heart a little squeeze. She gasped and yelled, "Please don't hurt me anymore! I'm begging you!"

"You were right," he started with a smirk and her eyes widened.

"I did change my mind," he whispered the last part into her ear as he ripped her heart out. Mika's eyes went blank as she stumbled forward with her hand on her chest and then fell to the ground. The most horrible thing was that she was still fully awake. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and everything went black.

Back in the real world, Madara was holding Mika's limp body in his arms. She was completely out of it so he carried her to her cell and dropped her to the ground roughly. Not even a twitch came from her. He locked the cell door and walked away. Madara did not even care the slightest about what he had just done.

...

In Konoha, the Hokage was sitting in his office with a blank expression. An ANBU member was standing in front of him.

"What do you have to tell me?" the Hokage said with a sigh. The ANBU took out a small backpack and placed it on the table.

"These are the belongings of Mika Aranuki. They were found in the northern Fire Country forests," the ANBU member began. Instantly, the Hokage looked more interested and he leaned forward.

"Upon investigation, we found a lot of blood on the scene. Our people believe she was killed by rogue ninja," he continued. The Hokage frowned and picked up the pack, which had a few splatters of blood on it.

"It seems so," he muttered more to himself than anyone else. Then, with another sigh, the Hokage looked at the ANBU member and said, "Thank you Uchiha Itachi for informing me. You are dismissed."

_**To be continued...**_

So how's that for making Madara look like a total ass?

Itachi isn't too good either and as far as the Hokage knows, Mika's dead.

Any thoughts or suggestions?


	3. The Nightmare

Hello! Chapter 3 already~ This time, Mika gets a little more resourceful, but as usual, Madara is still an ass. (You have been warned.)

_**Chapter 3- The Nightmare.**_

Mika's eyes snapped open and she jumped up from the floor. Instantly, her hand went to her heart. With a relieved sigh, she noted that there was no hole. Though, her right arm was still injured, her ankle hurt and her face stung. Stretching, she found she had a lot more bruises now than yesterday. Though, it must have been because she was sleeping on the floor.

She looked around the cell and frowned when she saw that all she had was a dirty sink, a small toilet and a rock hard bed with a paper thin blanket. The door was really just a set of metal bars with a large lock on it. Needless to say, it was locked.

Mika sat down, but suddenly, she heard footsteps. Briefly, she thought about hiding, but then banished the childish notion. Seconds later, Madara appeared at the door to her cell and he opened the lock.

"Time for you to train with Itachi again," he said as she walked out. She was looking down and her form was stiff as they made their way to the training room. Itachi was already there and before Mika went over to him, Madara stopped her and said, "Don't forget what I said yesterday."

With a blank expression, she grabbed the same katana she had been using the day before and stood to face Itachi. The younger Uchiha was already holding a set of kunai and shuriken. She gulped and took a deep breath when Madara announced that they could begin the battle.

Just like last time, Itachi charged at her and threw kunai in her direction. Instead of blocking with her katana, Mika used chakra to make herself jump up several feet into the air. They all missed her and she used the momentum from the jump to pounce on Itachi. He blocked her katana with another kunai so she skirted to the side and aimed a kick at him. Itachi jumped away just in time so she continued being on the offensive.

Then, he did some hand seals, took a deep breath and blew a fireball at her. However, she was ready for this and she had already done the seals for the same jutsu. His fireball was large, but hers was growing larger by the second. They squared off until both fireballs were absolutely massive. Mika ran out of breath and suddenly, Itachi was over her head. She tried to jump back, but she did not have enough time and he punched her in the head. The pain was wretched, but she managed to shake it off so that she could get back on her feet.

"That the best you got, Uchiha?" she mocked while wiping some blood off her face. He charged at her again while simultaneously doing hand seals for another jutsu. This one was unfamiliar to her so she was quite surprised when a dragon made out of flame came out of Itachi's mouth. It was very large and from the looks of it, extremely quick as well. Thinking fast, she gathered chakra around her hands and projected a type of chakra shield around herself.

The dragon flew at her and hit her shield with tremendous force. Mika stumbled back a bit, but held the shield up. Fire was making the air scorching hot so she had trouble catching her breath. The dragon went back slightly, but then charged from the side. This time, she wasn't able to hold her stance and she fell to her knees. The shield cracked and she covered her face with her hands. Though, no fire came crashing down on her.

She cautiously opened her eyes and saw that Itachi and Madara were standing side by side. The younger Uchiha then turned, gave her a glare and walked away.

Hopping to her feet, Mika remembered the terms of the punishment. Their battle had not been that long= lots of torture. Madara opened his mouth to speak, but right at that moment, she took the end of her katana and hit herself with it in the forehead. It instantly knocked her out and she fell to the ground.

The masked man frowned and picked her unconscious body up. Then, he took her back to her cell and dropped her on the ground. His eyes were narrowed as he activated his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Regular Sharingans needed the victim to be awake in order to cast a genjutsu, but his did not require that luxury.

He placed a hand on Mika's forehead and just like that, he had access to her dreams. With a smirk, he set out to crush the one place she thought she was safe. "I can get you anywhere."

...

Mika was sitting under a tree while looking out onto the horizon. The sun was high in the sky and a gentle breeze was brushing thought her hair. She smiled and stood up to stretch; it felt so good to have no pain. Looking at her hands, she saw that they were blurry and everything felt rather surreal.

"This is a dream," she muttered while looking around and seeing just how unfocussed her surroundings were.

"This is a dream!" she repeated with more enthusiasm. She jumped up and started running. There was no particular destination in her mind, but rather, she was running for the sake of being able to.

"I'm free!" she yelled as she shot through the forest, past the meadows, by the rivers and through the mountains. Suddenly, the ground beneath her feet collapsed and she was falling. Mika's eyes widened and she reached up to the sky in a vain attempt to pull herself up using her willpower. She hit the ground like a freight train colliding into a cliff. Her mind was shaken and everything went even more numb than it was already.

"Tell me, woman, what did you think you were accomplishing by knocking yourself out?" a rumbling, malicious voice spoke from the darkness. With shock written over all her features, she jumped up and frantically looked around. It was so dark...

"Who's there?" she said with a dark glare. Her dream had been going so well until now and she had no intention to let some dark shadow ruin it for her.

"You don't recognize my voice?" the darkness mocked and she gasped.

"Madara! What are you doing in my dream?" she demanded without even the slightest hint of fear.

"You need to be punished for having fought such a short battle with Itachi," he replied and stepped out of the shadows. Mika growled; actually growled, at him and seethed, "This is my dream. _My world_. You have no right to be here! Be gone you heathen!"

Then, she put her arms in front of her and gathered chakra into them.

"Chakra cannon!" she yelled and shot at him. The technique did not exist in real life, but it was her dream and she figured she could do anything.

"You should know that is not going to work," he replied as the shots went straight through him.

"Of course it is! This is my dream and you are figment of my imagination that I am willing to banish," she said matter-of-factly.

"Who said I was a part of your imagination?" Madara said in a deadly cold tone. An unearthly shiver went down her spine and she backed away from him.

"Y-You're the real Madara?" she stuttered and pointed a shaky finger at him. All of her previous confidence was gone, that much was for certain.

"Yes. Now, as I was saying, it is time for your punishment," he continued and stepped forward even more. The breath hitched in her throat and she shook her head before covering her ears. "No... You can't get me in my dreams! You're lying!"

"Oh, but I can," he ended darkly and suddenly, Mika was grabbed from behind, pulled into the darkness and chained to a wall. She could barely see anything, but she could tell that the elder Uchiha had moved to stand in front of her. There was a glint of something and just as she realized it was a knife, it was in her left arm.

Biting on her tongue was the only thing she could do to stop herself from screaming, but it drew blood nonetheless. He pressed down until the knife was at her bone. She grit her teeth and reminded herself that it was just a dream. Then, he drew back and stabbed right through her bone and down, which caused her arm to fall off and drop to the ground. Mika couldn't stop the tortured scream that tore out of her throat. She looked at the bloody stub where her arm used to be and yelled at the blinding pain.

"My arm..." she cried and tried to force down the lump forming in her throat. There was no way that she would cry in front of him.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" she chanted.

"That did not work last time, so why would it work now?" Madara's voice broke through her pain.

"Because maybe you'll grow a heart and start to care," she bit out and took several deep breaths to try and soothe the pain. His hand was instantly at her throat and he started squeezing. She let out a strangled cry, but he silenced her with a punch in the eye. Her head was reeling and she was starting to have trouble being able to see. Several sharp pangs went through her lungs as they gave one last try to breathe and then stopped.

Madara let go of her and she dropped to the ground next to her arm. He heard her take a deep breath and then start coughing so he kicked her in the stomach. Blood streamed out of her mouth, but she made no noise. Leaning down, he realized that she was muttering something under her breath.

"Change... Change... Oh please change..." She let out another choked cry and suddenly, they were no longer standing inside the deep hole that Madara had created. They were now on the side of a mountain, which was covered in snow. Small, white fluff was coming down from the sky and it looked genuinely peaceful. Mika now had a small smile on her face and it must have had something to do with the fact that cold snow made her injuries less painful.

"I still... have... a little control," she whispered in regards to her dream. The Uchiha frowned and picked her up by the neck.

"Then I will have the honor of stripping it away from you," he sneered and tried to change the scene back to darkness. Instead, he heard laughter and a fully uninjured Mika was running through the snow. He looked back at the Mika in his hands, who was indeed injured. His mask hid the confused frown on his features.

"That was a memory," she whispered as she watched herself running away with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Run," she encouraged the now distant figure. Madara tightened his grip on her and this time, his control was successful and the scenery changed to a dark cave with blood all over the walls. Mika was still smiling and she was muttering something about freedom under her breath. However, the Uchiha brought her back to 'reality' by throwing her against the wall. There was a crack and she crumpled to the ground.

"Go ahead, do your worst. I know I will wake up soon anyway," she said with her face against the floor. He walked over to her, grabbed her arm, the one that was still attached, and pulled. Her eyes widened and she screamed when her other arm became dislocated and then ripped from her body. She continued to scream as the realization of the loss of limbs hit her will full force. "What the hell is wrong with you!"

Blood was flowing freely from her shoulders and she yelled, "What have I have I ever done to make you hate me so damn much!"

Groaning, she continued to writhe on the ground.

"Woman, I do not hate you. You just became my unfortunate victim. That's all there is to it," he replied without even a hint of emotion in his voice. She hissed and continued, "Then why can't you even call me by my name! It's always woman, wench or some other crap like that!"

"I will call you by name when you deserve it," he said. Then, he came to stand over her. He was holding a large cleaver and she shrieked in protest as he wielded it over his head and then swung down on her right leg; efficiently severing it. Mika screamed until her throat hurt, but still, she did not cry. The other leg was decapitated as well, but she was in so much pain that it really didn't matter any more. Finally, he came to stand above her head and flashed the cleaver dangerously.

"Do it! Just kill me already!" she muttered fiercely; her voice was horse and she couldn't even scream anymore. Madara grinned under his mask and said, "No, I think I'll just let you say around and bleed to death."

"Heartless bastard. Go to hell. I'm sure the Devil would like to have tea and crumpets with you!" she retorted; not even caring what happened anymore. His grin disappeared and he slit her throat with the weapon. Unable to talk, she just gave him a mocking smile and mouthed 'You know I'm right.'

He frowned, drew back and cut her head off. It rolled to the side and he glared down at her. "Stupid bitch. You deserve to suffer."

...

When Mika woke up, she heard screaming. It was then that she realized it was her own screaming. She was struggling against something while letting out a bloodcurdling shriek, though she didn't really know why. The events of the nightmare came back to her, which made her gasp and finally stop making noise.

"You finally stopped screaming, bitch," a gruff voice said from behind her.

That was also when she looked down to find herself being held back by two strong arms. Panic ceased all rational thinking in her brain and she resumed struggling, but with much more vigor. Suddenly, she was struck in the head and she stopped moving. Someone was holding her around the waist and grabbing her by the neck.

"I have a new rule for you; If you so much as let out a small cry, I will hurt you," the now familiar voice of Uchiha Madara hissed into her ear. She swallowed and found that there was blood in her mouth.

"Why are you holding me?" she whispered.

"The second I took control of your dream, your body started running around and violently trying to wake up by running into a wall," he replied. A small smirk formed on her lips and she mentally congratulated herself for trying to wake up. At last, Madara let go of her and she jumped away from him stiffly.

"Your high pitched shrieking no longer puts me in the mood to torture you so I have a different punishment for you today," he said as he too, got up to stand. He opened the cell door, which was when she understood where they were. She followed him and they made it back to the training room. The Uchiha disappeared for a second, but then reappeared with a bucket and mop. "You will scrub every inch of this room and if I so much as find one stain on the floor, I will make you regret it."

Mika nodded and picked up the cleaning supplies. She didn't care much for being treated like a servant, but she would rather clean that be forced into another genjutsu. Madara turned around and left, which left her alone in a room the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

"Damn it."

_**To be continued...!**_

I'm actually somewhat mad at Madara right now. How can he be such an ass to a poor, innocent girl like Mika?

Still, I somehow have to make them fall in love. :/ That's going to be hard.

Any thoughts?


	4. The Reward

The last chapter was rather dark, but I'll try to make this one a little lighter! Though, it all depends of Madara's mood and as we all know, he is usually rather pissy... Also, I'm going to take Ninja Trio's Best suggestion and start writing in paragraphs!

_**Chapter 4- The Reward.**_

Mika was already up and standing by the door when Madara came to get her for training. Though she had no clock in her cell, she was able to tell the time roughly. She also knew a basic outline of the base; which she had been forced to scrub from head to toe over the last two months.

Her injuries had healed, but the emotional damage was still life-threatening. No matter how hard she tried, her battles with Itachi had always been anywhere from embarrassingly short to medium length at best. Of course, that resulted in more mental torture.

She had actually grown quite surprised to see that even though it had been sixty days of torture, there was always a new form of pain. One day it was knives, the next needles, scalpels, sharp vines, or the claws of some demon creature. However, the most horrifying thing she had ever been through was when he put her under a large weight and it literally crushed her entire body with excruciating slowness.

Even through all of this, she had noticed one growing trend and that was that with every day, the torture seemed to get more and more physical. In the first few weeks, he had stood far away from her when he attacked her, but as the days progressed, he came closer and closer. It was as if his want to be right in front of her as he killed her had grown. She also didn't like how he had taken a liking to mutilating her body in alarmingly grotesque ways.

Another unfortunate side-effect of the genjutsu was that it made her feel dizzy and disoriented. If the torture was not so bad, she could still make it through the day, but if he really took care to pain her, she found that she had trouble walking, breathing, and staying awake. Then, since the heartless Uchiha Madara thought that genjutsu was not enough, he made her clean a new room each day.

Thus, it was no surprise that Mika had thought about suicide more than once. She never went through it, though, because somewhere in her heart, she still believed that she would be free one day.

They walked into the training room and as usual, Itachi was already there. Mika took her katana and stood to face him. The younger Uchiha did not say a word as he ran at her. She blocked his punches with simple taijutsu and then jumped back. Her plan was always to waste more time by jumping away, attacking only when necessary and using long range jutsu to keep him far away.

Today, however, she decided to switch tactics. After all, the said plan had not worked so change was inevitable. Mika gathered chakra in her hands and sword as she ran straight at Itachi. He blocked with his own katana and they were now both using as much chakra as they could to push the other off. They looked about evenly matched until suddenly, she took one hand off the sword and summoned a clone single-handedly. As a result, Itachi got the upper hand and was able to rip her katana out of her hands.

Though, Mika now had two clones beside her and just as Itachi threw her sword away, they jumped on him. He used taijutsu to punch them in the stomach and destroy them. Meanwhile, Mika had finished doing the seals for the Fire Dragon Jutsu Itachi had used on her two months back. His eyes narrowed as a flame dragon emerged from her mouth and sped toward him.

"That's right! It took me two months, but I finally figured out that jutsu!" she announced in triumph as she directed the dragon to surround Itachi. He jumped up to get out of the circle, but by then, Mika was already above him and she used a fist full of chakra to punch him right in the jaw. The younger Uchiha fell down and the dragon enveloped him in fire. She landed on the ground and dispelled the jutsu. Much to her bitter disappointment, Itachi had managed to use a shielding jutsu and he was currently getting up from under an earthen shield.

"You aren't the only one who learned new jutsu," he replied and got in an offensive stance. Mika swore under her breath and drew a few shuriken into her hands. Madara was suddenly standing in between them and he said, "That is enough for today. Itachi, you are dismissed."

She frowned at the cut-short battle and crossed her arms.

"You did well today, Mika," he continued and her eyes widened.

"My name..." she began, but then cleared her throat and fell silent.

"Yes, remember I told you that I would start calling you by your name when you deserved it," he reminded. A small smile tugged at her lips, but she found the gesture to be unnatural because she had spent so much time frowning or keeping her face blank.

"As a reward for being able to land a hit," he started in reference to the punch. "You will be fighting me."

Mika gasped and backed up instinctively. "So soon? You're going to kill me, aren't you? I-I don't want to die today!"

He chuckled at her horrified expression and explained, "It is training, not fighting to the death."

She eyed him suspiciously. "You're lying."

A sadistic grin was hidden under his mask as he suddenly appeared in front of her with a sword in his hand. "So what if I am?"

Mika was barely able to get away as he aimed to stab her in the stomach. Sure, she had been worried when she had fought with Itachi, but now she was absolutely consumed by fear. The only thing she could do was keep shooting backwards with lightning speed. Though she could only see one of Madara's eyes, she could tell that there was a murderous glint in it.

He was much faster than her so the second she avoided one attack, he was in front of her again. Never in her life had she ran this quickly. Her lungs felt like they were going to burst and her heart was practically beating a hole in her chest. Thinking fast, she did the seals for the fireball jutsu and blew a giant fireball at the elder Uchiha.

"Don't you ever think that a non-Uchiha like you can defeat an Uchiha using one of our main techniques," he said from somewhere in front of her. Suddenly, a fireball the size of a small sun was headed in her direction. It easily engulfed her fireball and Mika barely had enough time to gather chakra in front of her as a shield.

The wall of fire hit her like a train and she couldn't breathe as she struggled to keep her meager shield up. She knew that if it even so much as faltered for a second, she would be burned to death in an instant. Her head was getting dizzy and her skin felt horribly hot; almost like it was on fire.

As she continued to struggle for life, she saw a dark figure among all the red, yellow and orange. It came up to her and she would have gasped if she could breathe upon realizing that it was Madara. He was just standing there; not even slightly fazed by the burning inferno around him. The elder Uchiha reached forward, straight through her shield, and grabbed her by the throat. She let out a choked cry of protest, but then instantly regretted it as his grip tightened and he pulled her out of the shield. Mika let a scream as she expected her skin to melt off. Instead, she found that she was spinning and she was now in a dark room.

"I told you never to scream or cry out," he sneered and hit her in the head. Biting her tongue, she scrambled up from the floor and tried to look around. She could barely see anything and her ragged breathing made it impossible to hear anything. Madara was somewhere in front of her... or maybe he was behind her. What if he was straight above?

Mika narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath before yelling, "You sick coward! Stop hiding in the shadows and fight me!"

If she was going to die, there was no need to hold her tongue anymore. There was a whoosh and a dark figure was in front of her. Without even giving it a second thought, she jumped forward with a kunai. As expected, it went right through him so she used her free hand to reach for where his face was. Then, also just as she had predicted, he crushed her hand with a spine-chilling crack. Just at that moment, she kicked forward and connected with his stomach. Her plan had been that Madara would faze to avoid the kunai, but then faze back to normal to attack her.

He growled at the contact and used his other hand to throw her away. She struggled to get up with only one good arm, but she was grinning.

"Not so invincible after all! I landed a hit on you!" she yelled into the darkness. Death was imminent so she continued, "I always knew you were a fake! You're nothing but a pathetic excuse of an Uchiha! No wonder Hashirama Senju was able to defeat you!"

That last comment was what really boiled Madara's blood. He appeared in front of her with a katana in his hand, stabbed both of her legs, and then sliced her stomach. Mika choked and coughed up blood. Her hands reached to her stomach as she tried to stop the bleeding. Madara picked her up by her hair and pushed her up against a nearby wall. She glared at his one visible eye and managed to bite out, "That the best you got, you long haired, feminine ass-"

Her cut her short with another punch to the head. All those days of torture and suffering had melded into quite a lot of hatred for the elder Uchiha so it was not much of a surprise that it was surfacing now.

"Punch to the head... how original," she mocked and even gave a small, dry laugh. The elder Uchiha did not say anything as he brought the katana to her uninjured arm and sliced down long the length of it. Mika groaned and writhed in his grasp, but did not say anything else. She had a faraway look in her eyes and her face was calm and blank. Blood was slowly going down her face from various injuries, which dyed her hair a dark crimson.

"Do you have anything smart to say now?" he questioned with a sneer. His katana was now centered at her chest; right where her heart was. He pressed forward lightly and it made a small cut. Her heart was merely centimeters away from the tip of his blade. She lifted her heavy head to look up at him as she also got her two bloody, injured hands to rest at the edge of his sword.

"Congratulations Madara, I'm officially destroyed," she muttered hoarsely.

"However... I won't give you the satisfaction of killing me," she announced with renewed strength. She clenched the edge of the weapon and pulled it toward herself. Madara's eyes widened as his sword went through her heart. A small smile was on her lips, but it disappeared as her eyes went blank, her head dropped, her arms fell to her sides and she went completely limp. He pulled the blade out and blood came pouring out.

With a furrowed brow, he held her in his arms and tried to figure out what to do. It had never been his intention to kill her, but she had done it before he had a chance to stop her. Madara stood up, her body hanging in his arms, and he quickly teleported to the room with all the medical supplies. He put her down on the table and tore the clothing by her heart away.

Grabbing a scalpel, he made several critical incisions and removed the flap of skin and bone covering her dying heart. Without any hesitation, he gathered chakra in his hands and took surgical thread to try and sow her heart back together. He used his chakra to keep the blood flowing through her body while he performed open heart surgery on her.

"Damn it, Mika, why did you have to do this?"

...

White light... tunnel...

Mika stumbled down a tunnel bathed in pure white light. She had no idea what had happened to bring her to this place. It was so silent... so peaceful. A gasp came out of her as she remembered stabbing herself with Madara's sword. Suicide... wasn't the punishment for that an eternity in hell?

She looked down the tunnel again. Without so much as a glance back, she started walking toward the blinding light. Right now, she would rather suffer in hell at the hands of demons than stay another day with Madara. Mika broke into a sprint upon seeing golden gates. So close... she was almost free.

A smile was on her lips as she stood in front of the beautiful gates and looked inside. Absolutely everything was white and it all felt so pure. Was this really heaven?

"Hello, Mika Aranuki," a sweet, angelic voice spoke beside her. She turned to see a person with a golden halo and clad in white robes.

"This is heaven, but it isn't your time yet. Go back to Earth, Mika," the angel continued and suddenly she was falling. Her eyes widened and she reached up to grab onto something.

"No! Please don't sent me back there!" she cried. The last thing she saw before everything went black was the golden gates of heaven.

...

"Wake up already," a deep voice stirred her from her heavy slumber. Mika dared not open her eyes as she clung to the image of heaven. Maybe if she thought about it hard enough, she would be there.

"Come on, open your eyes," the voice continued and she stirred slightly. She hissed at all the pain; her legs, arms, throat and head throbbed. However, her chest was what hurt the most.

"Why..." she began, but then broke into a coughing fit because dried blood was tickling her throat. Every heartbeat caused a new wave of pain to radiate through her body.

"Mika," the voice said and she recognized it to be Madara's. Her eyes opened a crack and she saw him leaning over her.

"I'm alive... Why?" she repeated in a dejected tone.

"You fool, it was not easy doing open heart surgery on you. And did you honestly think you could get away from me?" he murmured and she detected a hint of relief in his voice. Then, the elder Uchiha stood up. That was when she realized that he had been holding her hand. On any other occasion, she would have found the gesture to be sweet, but today, it sickened her.

"I wanted to die... Why didn't you let me?" she said and was satisfied to see that her voice was no longer so dry.

"Your service for me is not yet completed," he stated simply and turned around. He then teleported out of the room. She closed her eyes and let her mind go back to the darkness.

"Will I ever be free?"

...

It was midnight; a full moon. Madara and Itachi stood at the entrance to the Uchiha clan base.

"Are you ready, Itachi?" the elder Uchiha said as he drew his weapon. Itachi nodded and they both ran into the base and into the homes of their unsuspecting fellow clan members. Without any mercy, they ended up massacring the entire Uchiha clan that night.

Later, Madara sat perched on an electric pole as he watched Itachi talking to his little brother, Sasuke. For some reason, Itachi had been able to kill everyone he knew, except for his beloved brother.

His thoughts went back to Mika, whom he had saved for the same reason that Itachi could not kill his brother. Narrowing his eyes, Madara dispelled the thought and jumped down to the street. He now had the task of collecting the eyes of every single dead Uchiha in the village.

_**To be continued...**_

Finally! Madara did something nice for Mika, that is, after he brought her to the edge of death.

I guess this chapter helped move along with the plot somewhat... Yes, this story does have a plot. (Even though it is small right now.) So, how do you like the paragraphs? If they are better than the standard one-sentence format, I'll go back and edit the other chapters to make them in paragraph form as well.

Any thoughts?


	5. The Solitude

Hello! It's chapter 5 already! This chapter probably won't have as much blood and gore as the last three, but once again, it all depends on Madara's mood. Seriously, someone needs to sneak some happy pills into his breakfast or something.

_**Chapter 5- The Solitude.**_

Mika groaned upon realizing that she had to fight Itachi, while injured. She had recently woken up on the table in the medical room. It felt like morning, but that made her all the more depressed.

Standing up had been a whole endeavor of its own, and it had not ended well. At least now she knew that she couldn't walk... Or stand... Barely sit... A frown formed on her features as she got down on the ground and started crawling toward the door.

Her heart panged in her chest and all her other injuries made their presence known as well. Luckily, Madara had bandaged them so she did not bleed to death. When she made it to the door, she started crawling to the kitchen. Food was probably the best thing for her right now. Usually, food was brought to her cell before she woke up, but today, that was not the case.

It seemed like an eternity had passed before she finally got to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, Mika discovered that there was not much food. In fact, there was an odd shortage of food. All they had was a few green vegetables, a small piece of cheese and a bowl of something that looked like rice.

"Beggars can't be choosers," she muttered as she took out the rice and started eating it with her hand. There was no time to be sanitary now...

An hour later, she was still laying on the kitchen floor waiting. She was expecting either Madara or Itachi to come for her. However, there was no one. A stiff silence hung in the air and quite frankly, it freaked her out. Finally, bored of feeling sorry for herself, Mika opened her mouth and yelled, "Madara! Itachi! I'm in here!"

She thought that Madara would rush in and punish at her for yelling, or Itachi would come to kick her while she was down. Still, no one came and the silence remained unbroken. Sighing, she crawled under the table and closed her eyes.

"Might as well get as much time to sleep as possible..." she whispered and let her weary mind relax.

...

The next day, or what she felt was the next day, there was still no sign of any Uchihas. She had spent her waking hours crawling around from room to room and gathering various supplies like blankets, bandages, food, and water. In fact, she now had quite a hefty pile back at 'home base', which was under the table in the kitchen.

Her injuries were fairing a little better and they had stopped bleeding. However, she still could not walk and using her arms was horribly painful. As she crawled to the next room, she discovered that it was a bathing room. After much debate, she decided to take a shower. Prior to this, her 'showers' consisted of Madara coming into her cell and throwing cold buckets of water at her. Not to mention that this all happened while she was asleep.

It took her nearly an hour to bring in all of her medical supplies into the bathing room, take off her old bandages, clamber into the tub and turn on the water. Mika sighed in relief when warm water came into contact with her skin. At last, she would be able to scrub off all of the dried blood.

She was rather disappointed to see that each and every one of her limbs was littered with bruises, scars and fresh injuries. It was as if she was a decorated cake, though, instead of icing there was blood.

Every time she thought she heard a noise, she went all tense and grabbed a nearby towel. Though, no one burst in to yell at her or kick her out. After a while, she was actually able to relax a degree.

When she was completely clean, she climbed out of the tub and onto the flotilla of blankets she had arranged earlier. Then, it was just a matter of bandaging all of her wounds and putting on clean clothing.

Mika eyed the clothing suspiciously. She had not found any female clothing, but instead, she found what looked to be Madara's clothing. Smelling it, she discovered that it indeed had his distinct scent. It took her quite a while to decide whether or not to put the clothing on. If she did, she would be wearing something Madara would wear, which made her a little sick to her stomach. However, if she didn't, she would be forced to put on her old, smelly, sweaty, bloody, ripped clothing. In the end, she did begrudgingly climb into the elder Uchiha's clothing. By then, she was so tired from all the preparations that the just fell asleep in the bathing room.

The next day, she continued to crawl around the base, but now it was much quicker and less painful. She had found Itachi's room, and Madara's room, but they had both been locked so she did not even give them a spare glance. Also, she had discovered a few new tunnels that seemed to continue forever. Wasting her time on them was not in her best wishes so she merely made a mental note of their existence and wandered on.

The most exciting discovery, though, had been much, much more important. Mika was currently in a large room with some sort of giant wooden statue with multiple eyes. The statue was not very interesting, but what was farther down from it was. There was a massive rock in a gate like opening. It did not take much thinking for her to figure out that this was the entrance to the base.

From then on, she had moved all of her supplies to the large room and she spent almost every moment trying to move the rock over. Eventually, she realized it was futile so she started trying to dig a whole though it instead. She chose a strategic location by the side of the wall and the beginning of the rock because that would be the place where the least amount of digging would have to be done.

With that decided, she gathered some chakra into her hands and punched. At first, there was no visible impact, but after repeated attacks, a small crack had formed. Mika hit and hit until her fists became bloody. If this was indeed the way to her freedom, she would open it even if it was the last thing she did.

Four days later, she was still there.

The hole she had created now extended a good five feet in, but there was no telling how much more there was left. There was a more pressing problem, though, and it was that she was running out of food. The green vegetables, cheese and rice were all gone. Now all she had left was a small can of beans that she had found at the very back of the cupboards in the kitchen. Still, she tried not to think about and instead, she focused solely on using her chakra to destroy that damn rock.

Two hours later, she was out of breath and hunger gripped her once more. She dared not take a break so she took a deep breath and continued punching.

_Crack!_

Mika's eyes widened as the wall of the hole cracked and fell to the outside world. Brilliant, blessed sunlight came pouring in and she nearly burst into tears from joy. She stood up, her legs were now healed, and hesitantly reached out.

Then, with renewed determination, she continued tearing at the hole to make it big enough for her to be able to fit through. Within ten minutes, it was open and she peaked her head out. The lush, green forest seemed genuinely alive and the sounds of nature were like music to her ears.

She reached forward and crawled out. Sunlight hit her face and that was when she realized just how pale she was. After all, she had not seen sunlight for over two months. Her eyes were squinted and she looked around and took a deep breath. The fresh air outside made the stale, thick air of the base seem like a whole other world.

"Go ahead. Run. If you outrun me, you are free," a masculine voice said from behind her and her newly healed heart skipped a beat. Mika whipped around to see Madara leaning on the rock and looking at her. He looked so calm and composed and a renewed hatred for the Uchiha bred in her soul. After all that hard work, he was still always a step ahead of her.

His words finally registered in her head and she scrambled up before shooting into the forest like a bullet. She did not stop to think about where she was, or in which direction she was headed but rather, she ran for freedom. The forest turned into a blur as she jumped over bushes, in between trees and over rivers.

Her heart was pumping pure adrenaline through her body so all rational thinking was replaced by animal instinct. That's why when she heard a swirling noise, she instantly turned at a 90 degree angle. The swirling noise signified Madara's teleportation technique and she knew that she somehow had to keep running until he ran out of energy of using it. Her muddled mind failed to note that his technique required no chakra.

There was a rustle beside her and that's when she saw him running beside her. While her running was desperate and rushed, his looked cool, collected and planned. It looked like it took him no effort what so ever to be beside her at break-neck speed.

Mika panicked when he started getting closer to her side so she turned again. That was a mistake, though, because that meant he was behind her and she could no longer see him. She gave another burst of chakra, but right at that moment, she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist.

Before she could even gasp, they were spinning and suddenly they were back in the base. With wide eyes, she saw that this was the medical room. However, there was one large difference and that was now, there were at least 100 Uchiha eyes in floating containers lining the wall.

"You're a surgeon!" she stated in shock, but then realized it explained a lot.

"I picked it up over the years," he said into her ear, while still not letting go of her. In fact, it seemed like he tightened his grip on her.

"That's how you were able to save me..." she trailed off and looked down. "Why did you save me?"

Though she had asked the question before, she wanted more of a real answer. Madara did not say anything as he rested his head on hers. She swallowed nervously at the contact, but persisted, "Madara, answer me."

Finally he said, "It was never my desire to kill you. I was merely warming up."

"Warming up for what?" she asked in growing confusion. This time, the silence was tense and heavy as his voice dropped a tone and he replied, "For the massacre of the entire Uchiha clan. Where else do you think I got all of the eyes?"

Her jaw slackened and she went a little limp in his arms before getting really tense. "Let go of me." Her voice was calm, but there was a certain hint of panic in it. He did not listen to her and instead he continued, "Itachi was with me. That is why I brought you here to train with him."

She was now using her arms to pry his off her. "Let me go," she repeated and this time, her voice wavered slightly. Madara looked down at her and grabbed her arms with one of his own, while using his other arm to keep her pressed against his stomach.

"Stop struggling," he warned with a growl.

"No! Just let me go! You're a monster!" she yelled and this time, she used chakra to try and wrestle out of his grip.

"You do realize that I have to punish you for insulting me?" he sneered and reinforced his grip on her, which made her gasp in pain.

"I don't care! How could you kill all those innocent people! You really don't have a heart!" she announced and at last, his patience ran out. Madara twisted her around roughly and shoved her against the nearest wall.

Her growled and tore the mask off his face and threw it to the ground. Mika gasped and he sneered, "Yes I do!"

Then, before she even knew what was happening, he crashed her lips onto hers. It was like a shock went through her entire body and she found herself frozen and unable to do anything about the angry Uchiha in front of her. The kiss was rough and demanding, not to mention that it made her feel helpless.

He pulled away and found her wide eyes staring back at him. Her lips were partially parted, her cheeks were flushed and she actually looked like she had just turned into a statue. To his touch, her skin was unreasonably cold and she seemed to be shivering.

She took a breath and she looked like she was about to say something, but in reality her mind was completely blank. The moment she had seen his face, which was void of any wrinkles, had two determined eyes, a strong jaw line, distinguished cheekbones, thin lips and a perfect looking nose; all thoughts had fled her head.

Something in her heart stirred at the kiss, but the forcefulness of it made that feeling become replaced by pure, unmitigated shock. However, as the pieces of the torn up puzzle started coming back together, her surprise was replaced by rational fear. Hence, her skin went cold.

At last, she gathered her thoughts and stuttered, "M-Madara... N-No...I-I..."

His eyes were narrowed as he glared down at her, which shut her up once more. Never before had she seen such strong emotion on his face, but that was obviously because she never saw his face until now.

"Why are you wearing my clothes?" he said suddenly and the breath hitched in her throat. "W-Well... My other clothes were dirty and ripped... And this was the only other clothing I could find in the base!" she said defensively.

"I do not approve," he said and he reached for the neck of the shirt; clearly intent of removing it from her person. Thinking fast, she announced, "Please! You would have done the same had it been you stuck here and injured in tattered rags!"

"I," he started, "Would never make the mistake of being captured and injured."

"Please, for once, have a shred of understanding," she pleaded and looked him straight in the eyes. That was another mistake she made because her eyes were like windows to her soul. Currently, she was terrified to the bone and even though she had been afraid of him when he had nearly killed her, this was a whole new type of fear.

"What's this? You're actually afraid of me?" he said with a smirk forming on his features. Mika looked away, but he brought his hand to her chin and forced her to look up at him. Fear was consuming her despite her attempts to fight it and she started shaking. Madara did not fail to notice this and his arrogant smirk grew.

"So this is all I had to do to make you remember just who I am," he said and a shiver went down her spine. He leaned down until their noses were touching.

"It's about damn time," he growled and instantly, his lips were on hers again. She tried to clench her mouth shut, but he grabbed the back of her head and pulled her hair. Mika gasped and her mouth opened, which allowed his tongue to enter it.

He was merciless as he crushed any of her resistance and silently declared himself to be her master. When he pulled away, the poor girl had passed out in his arms.

_**To be continued...!**_

Yes! At last- they kissed! And it only took... 2 months and 1 week.

How did you like it?


	6. The Insomnia

Remember how Madara promised that Mika's service to him would be done when Itachi was finished training? Well... Madara might have other plans now...

_**Chapter 6- The Insomnia.**_

Mika pulled at the door handle in front of her with as much force as she could muster. Still, the door did not budge and her panic level rose once more.

She was currently in a room she had never been in before, but it strongly resembled Madara's tastes. The bed smelled like him and the clothes in the closet matched his attire. There was no reasonable explanation as to why she was here, but all she knew was that she had to get out.

With renewed strength, she tugged at the door. It did not even twitch so she groaned and punched it out of frustration.

"So now you're desecrating my property," Madara said from behind her and she twirled around to see him in long black pants, but no shirt. His mask was also not on his face so she figured he had just gotten up. But from where... there had been no one in the bed when she had woken up. She nearly frowned at him, but managed to control her emotions. "I would not be trying to break your door if I was not here."

"I needed to keep an eye on you before I fixed the large hole you made," he explained and sat down on the bed. Mika watched his every move with narrowed eyes and stood tense; ready to run or fight no matter the situation.

"You look a little stiff, why don't you sit down," he suggested, but she could tell that there was a mocking undertone. Trying to look normal, she glanced around for a chair, but found nothing except for the bed, a small dresser and a storage box. He patted the spot beside him and she sighed before cautiously meandering over to him and sitting down. She would have been a lot more comfortable had he been fully dressed.

"You know, what you said last night really made me think a lot about what to do with you," he said nonchalantly. There was a pause in which he leaned closer to her and whispered into her ear, "I could always punish you in other, less violent ways."

She could not see his face, but she imagined it would have a large smirk on it. The suggestiveness of the statement did not go unnoticed by her so she coolly replied, "Madara. You are over eighty years old, whereas, I am merely twenty-one. Perhaps you need to remind yourself of that fact."

His breath tickled her neck and it took her every fiber of her being not to push him away and resume pounding at the door.

"Do I look old to you?" he demanded roughly, grabbed her chin and forced her to look him in the eyes. His Sharingan was activated and she instinctively shut her eyes in case he was willing to use some sort of genjutsu on her.

"I am done with torturing you in my Sharingan," he said and a tiny shred of her heart truly wanted to believe him, but the majority suspected him of lying. Mika decided to take a leap of faith as she opened one of her eyes just a crack. He was still looking down at her and she swallowed the lump in her throat.

Suddenly, Madara leaned forward to try and kiss her, but she gasped and tried to push him away. This resulted with her hands coming in contact with his chest, which was well-built and quite strong. Clearly displeased with her actions, he picked her up by the shoulders and pushed her down on the bed. Just as she was about to jump up and try to break out of his grasp, he was already straddling her waist. Her breathing became quick and erratic, while her heartbeat quadrupled.

"You belong to me, woman, so don't you dare resist me," he growled and pinned her hands above her head. Now completely defenseless, all she could do was stare up at him as he forced his lips onto hers. Her jaw was clenched shut and she kept it that way even though he tried to pry it open.

He then started planting feverish kisses on her neck, which really felt like he was trying to tear her neck open with his teeth. Tears were starting to from in the corners of her eyes as she realized just what all this would lead to if she did not fight back. Gathering her courage, she got chakra in her hands and tried wrestling out of his grip. His arm did not even move an inch and it only made his kisses more painful.

With his free hand, he reached for her shirt and pulled. Thus, it ripped on the side and her pale skin was just underneath. Her breath hitched in her throat when his arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her flush against him.

"W-Wait! M-Madara! I-" she was cut short when he silenced her with his lips. Panic disrupted all of her thoughts as she vainly tried to scream, but instead, that opened her mouth for him to take over.

At last, her mind pulled together a reasonable plan of action and she decided to risk it even thought it would probably result in failure and a lot of pain. Her chakra shield jutsu would be perfect for this situation so she gathered her chakra in her stomach and pushed outward. She had always used her hands before, but today she did not have that luxury.

Madara broke off the kiss and she took a deep breath, while continuing to expand the shield. He glared down at her and just as he was about to say something, she let out a battle cry and released the shield a full meter in front of herself.

It pushed him off and he landed on the bed beside her. With only a split second to spare, she sprinted off the bed, to the door and started pounding it with chakra filled fists.

"Help! Somebody please help me! Itachi!"

On any other day, she would have laughed at the irony of her calling for Itachi to save her. Madara was instantly behind her and he seized her by the waist before throwing her back down on the bed.

"There is no one else in this base and you know it," he scorned with a scowl. Mika did not know what to do as he once again pinned her under his body. She swallowed and tried to control her breathing, but her body betrayed her by letting out a choked sob.

The Uchiha was just as surprised as she was when she started crying. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she turned her head to the side to try and hide it from him. Even when she had been about to die, she had not cried so it seemed rather wasteful to do it now.

She flinched when Madara stroked the side of her face and wiped a tear away. Her eyes were tightly shut, but a few tears still managed to slip through. He frowned at her extreme reaction and then got up off the bed. Instantly, her hands went to her face as she tried to erase the evidence of her embarrassing outburst. Madara did not say a word as he got dressed and then walked out of the room.

A few minutes after she was sure that he had gone, Mika climbed off the bed and jiggled the door handle; not really surprised that it was locked. She took a deep breath and set out to fix her ripped shirt. After not finding any thread or needles, she decided to simply put on another of Madara's shirts.

Her hands wrapped around her as another bout of depression came upon her. Mika sat down in the corner of the room, tucked her knees in, and draped her arms around them. No more tears escaped her eyes, but a deep throb ached in her chest.

She tried to find a rational explanation for having reacted so strongly to Madara's advances, but found none. It seemed as though she was naturally terrified of him being near her. Over the last two months, he had been nothing more than a cruel captor, but now he was trying to make it rapist as well.

Time seemed to slow and she did not know how long she sat in the corner trying to think of a way out of her dilemma, but becoming distracted by her own misery.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps and she tensed before standing up. The Uchiha who had been haunting all of her thoughts opened the door and walked through it. He was wearing his mask again and she could only see his one eye, which was currently set in a cold, dark glare. A shiver went down her spine. Madara noticed this, but instead said, "You now have a new set of tasks to do."

"Itachi has finished his training and he no longer requires you," he explained and her brows furrowed.

"Wait, you said that my service for you would be done when Itachi was finished training," she said; her eyes narrowing more and more with each passing moment.

"That is correct. However, you have done _many_ things that you deserve to be punished for so your time has been extended." She bit her tongue from yelling at him and calling him a liar.

"From now on, you will be the caretaker of this base. You will do the cooking, cleaning and there are several other rooms that need to be established. You will also take care of the growing Zetsus and build various furniture," he said and raised far more questions than answered. For one, she had no idea what 'Zetsus' were and two, she had never built furniture in her life before.

"Also, since there is so much work to do, you will now only be allowed to sleep for four hours a day."

Now that was what bothered her the most. She knew quite well that if a person was forced to do manual labor without sufficient sleep, they would fall sick and they could even die.

"Fine, Madara, I get it. You're just going to make me work till I'm nearly dead and then you're just going to kill me. I knew I would never get out of here alive," she muttered the last part. He did not dispute anything she said and instead he said, "You will call me Madara-sama from now on."

With a nod, she followed him out of the room so he could show her what she needed to do. Her first tasks were to sweep the floors of the entire base, dust all the furniture, and smooth all of the walls while Madara went and gathered the necessary supplies for the food, furniture and other rooms. She actually had no idea what they were preparing for, or why the floor plan of the base had eleven new bedrooms, but she did her best to shut her mind down and concentrate only on conserving energy.

Sweeping the floors was rather monotonous and it required no intellectual stimulation so she was rather content with the task. Dusting was not all that bad either, but smoothing the walls turned out to be the hardest challenge yet. In most places, the walls were solid stone so she had to waste her precious chakra in order to use the small piece of sandpaper she had been given.

It had been six hours before Madara finally came back. By then, she had finished everything except for sanding half of the base. He had brought back a large amount of wood in the form of planks, several big boxes filled with various utensils and a medium sized container packed with food.

She did not say anything, but rather, she continued doing her work. It was only when she was done all the sanding, two hours later, that she approached the living room with all the supplies. The elder Uchiha was not there and instead, there was a list of even more things she had to do. Much to her surprise, there was also a clock resting on the kitchen table. It was already 4:00p.m. and as the note explained, her sleeping time was from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Mika frowned upon the realization that she still had nine hours of work to do.

According to the list, she had to unpack all of the food, carry one of each of the eleven different boxes to a separate bedroom and then unpack their contents. After that, she had to build eleven beds, eleven storage containers and eleven dressers using the wood and nails he had left. She decided to start with unpacking the food, which only took her half an hour. Then, she carried the boxes to their designated rooms and took a quick break. That was when she realized that it had been a week since she had had a descent meal. After all, until now, she had been rationing the remains of the food Madara had left for her a week earlier.

Gripping her stomach, she decided to risk sneaking into the kitchen and taking a piece of bread. No one was around so she turned on the tap to make it sound like she was getting water, took a cup, and then opened the fridge. She hesitantly reached for the loaf of bread, but then stopped when she heard someone clearing their throat behind her.

"Oh, hello there, Madara-sama. Is there anything you need?" she said politely and closed the fridge calmly. He seemed to narrow his eyes at her through the mask, though, it was hard to tell with the dim lighting.

"What are you doing?" he demanded sharply. Mika took out a glass from the fridge and said, "I accidentally put it in here and I was just going to get a drink of water."

The Uchiha did not look like he believed her, but he said nothing as he watched her get some water from the tap and sip it quietly.

"Madara-sama," she began, "I have not had a normal meal for a week. May I have a slice of bread?"

He almost looked like he was going to consider it, but then he uttered, "No. You will be fed tomorrow morning as a reward for your work."

She nodded, washed the glass and then walked out of the room. When she was far away, she sighed and rubbed her temples. At this rate, the hunger would render her unable to think clearly.

The next three hours crawled by painfully slow as she get to work with building those beds. Her captor had left her some blueprints and tools to get it done, but it was just so tedious and boring that she kept loosing focus and wasting time. It was her plan to build all eleven beds at the same time so that she could compare how they were going while they were all side by side in the living room. With her calculations, she was able to tell that there would be just enough space for her to do that.

When the next three hours had passed by, she had finished five beds and she was working on the sixth one. She was starting to get the hang of things, but her hunger made sure to distract her whenever she felt calm.

At last, three hours later, it was 1:00a.m., she had finished making nine beds and it was time for her to go to sleep. However, she had no idea where her sleeping place was. Madara was no where in sight, so she decided to curl up among the many wooden planks in the living room.

Mika went out like a light.

...

She leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. As she had been walking to do her next task, she had suddenly felt dizzy and everything went blurry.

After much deep breathing, Mika continued stumbling down the hallway and to the giant room with all of the still growing Zetsus. It had merely been a week since her new regime and she already felt like she was rotting on the inside. The lack of sleep was making her slow, clumsy and quick to tire.

Two days earlier, she had finished building all the furniture and setting up all the belongings in all eleven bedrooms so now it was her task to redecorate the rather empty living room and maintain all the Zetsus. More specifically, she had to come up to each of the 100 000 individual Zetsus and make sure that they were developing correctly. After all, with the growing technique Madara was using, there were bound to be a few mutations. This task took her most of the day, but luckily, she only had to do it twice a week.

When Mika had made it back to the kitchen, she looked at the clock and saw that she still have seven more hours before she could go to sleep. Groaning, she made her way to the living room and started building the three sofas Madara had requested. She was doing pretty well in such a sleep deprived state, but nothing was ever good enough for Madara.

Each night before she went to sleep, he would look over everything she had built and he would give her a rating from zero to ten. If the rating was above eight, she got to eat breakfast, which was her only meal of the day. She was rather upset that not only was her body worked to the bone, but it was also slowly being starved.

Her eye lids drooped and she leaned against the planks of wood as another wave of dizziness swept through her. Mika did her best to keep breathing evenly, but that was also her mistake because soon enough, the sound of her own breathing lulled her to sleep.

It was not much of a shock that her mind unplugged within seconds and she was in a nearly comatose state. Suddenly she was being shaken and a masked figure was glaring down at her.

"Foolish wench, how dare you fall asleep in the middle of your work. You deserve to be punished."

_**To be continued...**_

There we go, a nice little cliffy. :D

It got a little steamy at the beginning, but Madara sure cooled it by being a sadistic bastard. Poor Mika, I feel bad for Madara making her cry. Though, who wouldn't cry if they were about to be raped?

By the way, special thanks to Yuti-Chan, Joanna Davis, xkurofishy, ChiyoChi-Yamamoto, Ninja Trio's Best and trololol for reviewing! I really apprechiate it and your reviews make my day. :D

Any thoughts?


	7. The Catalyst

Hello! Things get from bad to worse as simple science shows that people who only get one meal a day and four hours of sleep really cannot survive for a long time.

_**Chapter 7- The Catalyst**_.

"Foolish wench, how dare you fall asleep in the middle of your work. You deserve to be punished," Madara sneered. Mika stumbled up into a standing position and backed away from him. He had just caught her taking a small nap, which she did not even remember settling down for. She had just been so dizzy and tired... The Uchiha took a step toward her and she responsively took a step back.

"Do. Not. Move," he ordered and something in her mind just snapped. Without so much as a second thought, she turned and ran out of the living room and into the hallway. He had not been expecting her to react like that, so he paused for a moment before chasing after her.

When she was half way to the room with the giant wooden statue, she realized that is was futile and running would only get her into more trouble. Swallowing her pride, she stopped in the middle of the hallway and put her hands in the air defensively. Madara was standing in front of her in an instant and he did not look happy. Before she could say anything, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her against the wall.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he growled.

"I-I was just resting my head, I was dizzy," she started with a wavering voice, but then cleared her throat and calmly continued, "It was an accident and it will not happen again. I apologize for wasting your time, Madara-sama."

Her pride was just crying out in pain somewhere at the back of her head, but she would rather suffer mental anguish than have to be beaten by his angry fists.

"It's good that you realize that what you did was wrong, but perhaps, you need a little reminder in the future that will keep you awake," he said and his tone dropped a few notes. Mika swallowed nervously and tensed up. With shut eyes, she waited for a blow to come at her, but there was nothing.

She cautiously peeked out and saw that Madara was holding a knife out to her. He grabbed her right arm and ripped its sleeve off roughly; not really caring that it was his own shirt that he was destroying.

"On your arm, write the words 'I will stay awake' with that knife."

Her eyes went wide and she stared up at him in disbelief. "But Madara-sama, if my right arm is injured, I will be unable to complete all the tasks you set out for me."

The Uchiha glared down at her and replied, "That is not my problem."

Mika sighed and took the knife from him before taking a deep breath and making the first incision. It stung, but her mind was just so numb and tired that she no longer cared. Madara watched in satisfaction as he mutilated her own arm and blood came running down the length of it.

She looked relatively calm as she did it, but on the inside, she was cursing his very being for making her do something like this. Who knows how long it would take for the new injury to heal and it would certainly leave a scar, which would ironically haunt her. Mika twisted the knife around to carve in the last 'e' in 'awake' before handing the knife to her captor and clenching her arm. She had tried to make the cuts as shallow as possible, but since she had been holding the knife in her non-dominant left hand, it had been a challenge.

"Am I free to go now?" she whispered in fear of raising her voice because she knew it would crack to reveal her pain. He nodded, let go of her shoulders and stepped aside to let her leave. When he was far away, she hissed at the pain and threw her head back to blink away the tears that were forming in her eyes.

As a result of sleep depravation and starvation, she now had a lot less willpower to keep her emotions together. Thus, she commonly found herself on the verge of tears both from pure exhaustion and mental frustration. What really made it a trial though, was that she had to act completely in control of herself when she was in front of Madara. He expected her to be calm and stoic, while all she wanted to do was yell at him and somehow manage to beg him to let her go.

She narrowed her eyes and shook her head. It was obvious from the way things were going that he intended to kill her. It was foolish to think that anyone could get away from Uchiha Madara alive.

...

Mika crumpled to the ground and she barely had enough time to extend her hands in front of her defensively. Her left leg had suddenly given out and she was currently unable to walk. She slid down the wall and massaged her leg in hopes of reanimating it somehow.

Another week had passed since her last violent encounter with Madara and her arm had healed, but her overall health had declined severely. Headaches were completely normal and she got dizzy spells more and more frequently each day. Not to mention the fact that hunger had eaten away at her once healthy figure and she was pale beyond reason.

Taking a deep breath, she used the wall to bring herself to a standing position again. There was no time to waste and whether or not she could walk on her leg, she had to get all of her work done. The next thing to do on her never-ending list was to sew, by hand, Madara three new shirts, a pair of pants, some socks and a large black cloak with red clouds on it.

However, the problem was that she did not know how to sew and he had made it perfectly clear that he did not care. Failure was not an option, but success was a true impossibility.

Mika was glad to see that her leg was working again and she walked down the hallway with barely even a hint of a limp. She made it into the multi-purpose room and she was about to get a chair to sit down on when suddenly, a sharp stab went through her head.

Instantly, she clutched the aching limb, but at the same time, both of her legs gave out and she started falling. Much to her misfortune, there was a table in her way and her head smashed against it unceremoniously.

Her unconscious body fell to the ground with a dull thud and her head hit the rock hard floor. A small pool of blood formed by her brow and her eyes were open as her breathing became shallower and shallower.

...

Madara swiftly walked down the halls of the base with a growing frown. Mika was no where in sight and he narrowed his eyes at the thought of her wasting his time by taking another nap.

He threw the door to the multi-purpose room open and got ready to yell at her, but paused when he saw her lying on the floor. At first, he thought she was sleeping, but as he came closer and saw the blood, he realized that there was a different case at hand. Carefully, he picked her up by the shoulders and tried to shake her awake. That was when he noticed just how thin and bony her shoulders had gotten. Her head hung to the side and she was completely unresponsive.

"Mika," he muttered fiercely and gave her another shake.

He reached out to hold her head and saw that her cheeks were getting hollow and she had large, dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was dry and frail, while her skin was as pale as a ghost.

Madara picked her up in his arms and started carrying her to the medical room. After bandaging her head wound, he gave her whitish, skeletal hand a squeeze.

Still, she did not stir.

Activating his Sharingan, he put his hand on her forehead to try and get into her dreams and tell her to wake up. However, all he saw was darkness and not even a glimmer of life was going through her mind. With a sigh, he picked her up, carried her to his room and tucked her in under his blanket.

"Why did you have to be so weak?"

...

Madara held Mika's hair to stop it from falling in front of her face. Another lurch went through her and she gripped the toilet seat as she continued to vomit her stomach out. After almost 24 hours of comatose sleeping, she had woken up suddenly and stumbled into the bathroom to puke. Her breathing was labored as she held her stomach in her hands.

"Thank you," she whispered hoarsely and staggered up into a standing position. She gasped when her legs buckled underneath her and she started falling, but luckily, Madara caught her just in time. He carried her to the bed and tucked her in again. Then, he sat down beside her, took out a cup and handed it to her.

Mika took a sip and then furrowed her brow. "What is this?"

"Sugared water. You need to be able to take in simple sugars before I can give you milk and only then can you get solid foods," he explained and gestured for her to continue drinking.

When she was done, he took the cup from her. She did not say anything else as he dabbed her forehead with a towel. Suddenly, another stab, rather similar to the one from yesterday, went through her head and she screamed. Clutching her head, she started to shake. Madara remained calm as he put her into a lying position and waited for the fit to pass.

Her breathing became completely erratic to the point of hyperventilation and her eyes were open wide as her body continued to spasm. Fifteen minutes later, the shaking finally stopped and she curled into a ball. Small whimpers could be heard coming from her as she continued to take in short, sudden breaths.

He put his hand under her head and leaned in to whisper, "Shh... Take a deep breath. Deep breath."

Mika shivered and took in a shuddery breath. She looked like she was going to say something, but then she went limp in his grasp. Madara sighed as he straightened her out and placed her under the covers once more. Her condition was clearly still critical and he had no choice but to stand watch over her in case another seizure or series of hyperventilation hit her.

Another day ticked by and she did not even twitch in her coma-like sleep. Then, in the middle of the night, he woke up to find her shivering. She was still unconscious, but her body was making it clear that she was cold. He wrapped her in yet another blanket and resumed his bedside vigil.

A few hours later, her eyes opened and instantaneously, she screamed.

The Uchiha grabbed her hand and said, "Mika, I'm here."

Her wails subsided slightly and she cried, "I can't see!"

It looked like she was about to cry by the way her shoulders were shaking, but she took a few deep breaths and calmed down. Madara took a flashlight and shined it in her open eyes, only to get no response what so ever.

"Please, help me, I can't live without my eyes," she pleaded and tightened her weak grip on his hand.

"It's alright. I am going to feed you some milk, and maybe the nutrients will help your eyes recover," he said as he lifted her up into a sitting position.

She took a few small sips and seemed to relax slightly.

"Thank you," she whispered as she finished the cup of milk and leaned back.

He did not say anything in response, but laid her back down and closed her eyes. Once again, she went out like a light. Madara stroked her still hollow cheeks and sighed. This was all his fault; he should have known that she wasn't strong enough to withstand such enormous mental and physical strain.

Narrowing his eyes, he let go of her hand and stood up. As he walked out of the room he made sure to remind himself that he had more important things to care about than a weak, pathetic, mortal woman.

...

There was light all around her. Was she dead again?

Mika furrowed her brow and tried to understand what she was seeing. She opened her eyes a fraction of an inch and saw that she was looking up at a pure blue sky. Her eyes widened in shock, but then closed at the sudden intake of light.

Wait a second... she could see.

A small smile graced her lips as she reopened her eyes. That was when she realized that she was lying in a field of tall grass. There seemed to be trees in the distance and the sun was shining down on her. She grinned at the feeling of warmth on her skin and fresh air entering her lungs.

"You're finally awake," Madara said from somewhere behind her and she turned around to see him standing in the middle of the grass.

"How long was I out?" she said and noticed how dry her throat was.

"Three days," he said blankly and she gasped.

"Three days!" she repeated as she tried to stand up.

He was immediately at her side and he helped her gain her balance. One of his hands was around her waist as he guided her through the meadow and toward a small basket he had set up earlier.

She sat back down on the grass and he followed suit after taking out a bowl of yogurt and a few fresh fruits. Mika's eyes lit up and her mouth started watering at the sight. She actually had no idea when the last time that she had fruit was. Madara picked up a spoon, got the yogurt and started bringing it toward her. Confusion crossed her eyes and she stared at the spoon suspiciously.

"Eat," he ordered and she gave him an eyebrow raise before sighing, opening her mouth and allowing herself to be fed.

This was by far, the most embarrassing thing she had ever been through. Never in a million years had she thought about Madara feeding her. He looked completely calm as he did it, whereas, she looked more and more nervous by the second. Part of her still believed that he would suddenly punch her in the face and kill her right then and there.

The memory of all the torture she got both in the genjutsu and in real life came flooding back and she found herself overwhelmed. Madara brought another spoonful of food in front of her and the breath hitched in her throat. She stared at him in his one visible eye, which had the Sharingan activated.

"Y-You..." she started and her bottom lip quivered as she turned away.

"I can't live like this," she said finally. "You bring me to near death, and then you bring me back. One day, I'll actually die."

"I-I mean... I always knew I would die by your hand, but could you at least tell me how long you intend to keep me alive?" she whispered the last part and closed her eyes.

He put the food down before leaning closer to her and wrapping his arms around her waist. As he brought her closer to him, she did not resist both because of fear of punishment and lack of strength. Her back came in contact with his stomach and he said at last, "I am not going to let you die."

She swallowed the lump in her throat as he continued, "That was a punishment and now its over. As long as you behave, you will not be harmed anymore."

Mika let out a dry laugh, but then frowned and asked, "Why were you punishing me?"

"Because you resisted my advances," he said frankly and tightened his grip.

"What? All of this hell was just about because I didn't want to suddenly be raped?" she demanded and brought her hands to her face.

He did not say anything so she continued, "What did you expect me to do? You just suddenly started... attacking me and I was completely unprepared."

"It was not an attack," he said gruffly, but there was more understanding in his tone now.

She sighed and muttered, "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I just don't jump into bed with people who take me away from my home, beat me nearly to death, leave me alone for a week with barely a morsel of food and then maul me with their face."

The 'mauling' part was referring to how his kisses were rough and had left many bruises on her.

"That is history. Right now, you need to focus on getting better," he whispered into her ear and it sent a shiver down her spine.

Mika relaxed slightly in his grasp and closed her eyes. She did not even stop to think why Madara was being so nice to her all of a sudden. _Though, that was probably the biggest mistake she could ever make_.

Soon enough, she had dozed off in his arms and he put her into a lying position on the grass. He stroked her face and a rare look of compassion passed onto his features. It had been a long time since he had to care of someone.

_**To be continued...**_

There... that chapter is finished. However, I have a few notes about Mika's physical reaction to her ailments:

Since she had been out of the sun, she had Vitamin D deficiency and the result of that is vomiting, seizures and muscle spasms. Also, because of the starvation, she had lost a lot of weight and become susceptible to hyperventilation. The treatment for that is actually sugar water, milk and only then can the patient have solid foods. As for the lack of sleep, it made her brain literally shut down various parts of her body like her eyesight and her legs.

It's horrible that things like that actually do happen in real life... (Though, I exaggerated her illnesses a little in the story.)

Anyway, what did you guys think of the chapter?


	8. The Akatsuki

Hello there! At last, a few more plot twists start to come in this chapter!

_**Chapter 8- The Akatsuki. **_

"First off, your sleeping schedule will now be extended to eight hours instead of four," Madara began as he paced back and forth across the room. Mika was sitting in front of him on his bed and she looked a lot better now than she had a week earlier. Her skin was rosy, her cheeks had become normal and her ribs could no longer be seen each time she took a breath. Even her levels of chakra had increased.

"Though, you will still be responsible for cleaning, building and various other homemaking tasks," he continued and stopped pacing to stand in front of her.

"Now, I am about to share with you some very sensitive information and I need to know that I will have your full cooperation," he stated as he stared her right in the eyes.

She nodded and replied, "I know what the punishment for treason is and I have no intention of betraying you."

He resumed pacing and said, "I am the leader of a top secret organization called the Akatsuki. This is a new base that I had to build and there are several other bases throughout the ninja world."

"We will be leaving for the base in Rain Country when we are finished here. There, you will meet Pein and Konan. Pein is the stand-in leader because I am not yet ready to reveal my identity to the other members. Konan also knows about me."

"Other than them, there are eight other members, including me. This brings me to the most important part," he trailed off and reached to get something from a drawer.

It was bright orange and oval shaped. Upon further inspection, she saw that it was a mask with one hole for his dominant eye. Madara took off his current mask and placed the new mask on his face. Mika raised an eyebrow at the odd choice of color, but decided not to say anything.

"Tobi wants to say hello!" a shrill voice suddenly came from the masked man and she actually jumped off the bed and backed away to the door upon hearing it.

He _skipped_ over to her and continued, "Tobi is Tobi! What is pretty lady's name?"

She twitched and put her hands up in front of herself defensively. "Look, I don't know what the hell 'Tobi' is, but I can tell it's some sort of possessive demon monster. So just... stay away from me and return Madara to his normal ass self."

"B-But Tobi is a good boy!" he actually stuttered.

Mika was seriously starting to panic now. "Alright... Tobi... Now, I am going to open the door and run out. If you so much as try following me, I honestly don't know what I am going to do."

"YAY! Pretty lady is going to play tag with Tobi!" he announced and moved to jump on her, but she threw the door open and sprinted out. There was no hesitation as she shot down the hallways with lightning fast speed. Tobi, however, was just as quick. She racked her brain for any sort of idea of what to do with psycho, high-pitched Madara and at last, a small realization donned on her.

"It's the mask!" she said more to herself than anyone as she stopped dead in her tracks, turned around and jumped on the masked man.

He screamed like a little girl and she grabbed hold of the mask with both of her hands before pulling with all of her strength. It came off with a satisfying popping noise and she briefly threw it into the other room.

"There, I got that demon mask off," she said in relief as she climbed off his shoulders.

"P-Pretty lady took away Tobi's mask! Tobi is sad!" the Uchiha continued despite the loss of the bright orange object. Mika paled considerably and eep'd as Tobi reached and clutched her by the waist. She tried to pry herself out of his tight grasp, but found that it was as solid as stone.

"Unhand me, demon! You ridiculous devil monster! If you don't let me go this instant, I swear I will-" "Will what?" a deep voice uttered into her ear.

She sighed in relief. "Oh thank goodness! Madara, you won't believe what just happened. Some devil creature named Tobi took over your body!"

"Tobi is not a devil creature! Why is pretty lady so mean?" the high pitched voice resumed and she screamed and did what any normal woman would have done in her place.

_Slap._

Madara actually looked winded and confused at the red slap mask on his face.

His grip on Mika tightened and he growled, "What the hell was that for?"

"Y-You... Tobi... We need to take you to an exorcist and remove the brain tumor that is Tobi!" she yelled defensively upon receiving a dark glare from the Uchiha.

"He is not a tumor. Mika, I _created_ Tobi," he explained, but she only got more and more confused.

"Tobi is my alias in the Akatsuki so that they do not realize that I am Uchiha Madara. I was not being possessed," he said with a sigh.

Mika's eyebrows went up, but then furrowed together. "Why didn't you tell me before I started to think that all your age had finally made you mentally retarded?"

"I was expecting your reaction to be less violent," he said sarcastically and rubbed his cheek.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.

"There, now it's all better," she said calmly, but then broke into a fit of giggles.

"I can't believe I actually slapped you!" she said between laughs and he finally let go of her waist so that she could saunter down the hallway like a woman drunk of mirth. His expression softened slightly at the musical sound and he realized that he had never heard her laugh until that point. He was suddenly standing in front of her; the mask back on, and he picked her up before they appeared back in his room.

"My explanation was not complete," he said blankly, while she continued to chuckle quietly.

"I have already finished checking all of the other rooms in the base so we will definitely arrive at Rain Country today, however, there is still one important task that needs to be completed," he continued as he took out a pair of scissors.

Her giggling stopped and she stared at the scissors intently in case he unexpectedly decided to stab her with them.

"You will cut my hair and make it short."

She gasped. "What? Why would you want to get rid of your beautiful hair?"

There was an awkward pause and instantly, her face paled in embarrassment.

"Beautiful?" he repeated, but then shook his head and clarified, "It needs to be shorter so that they will not realize that I am Madara."

Mika took the scissors from him and got behind him as he sat down on a chair. She took a comb and ran it through his long, almost waist length hair. Though she would never admit it out loud, she had always wanted to play with it. His hair was just so perfect and silky looking. Not to mention that it was lusciously soft.

"When you are done rubbing my head, would you get back to the task at hand?" he reminded and she cleared her throat nervously upon realizing that she had just spent the last minute stroking his hair lovingly.

With a deep breath, she brought the scissors up to the top of his head and snipped. Ribbons of black hair fell to the ground and she resisted the temptation pick it up and tape it on her own head. Strand upon strand glided down and after half an hour of nitpicking, Madara's hair was styled in a short boyish look. He stood up, ran his hand through it and nodded in approval. While he gathered a few things from around the base, Mika cleaned the hair up and swept the floor.

"Tobi likes his new hair!" the shrill voice she would soon come to dread said as she was suddenly snatched from behind and everything started to spin.

Her eyes went wide as she saw that they were now in a large room with grey metal walls and pipes lining the ceiling. The change was so sudden that she found herself dizzy and confused.

"Madara, it is good to see that you were able to make it," a voice completely void of emotion stated from the shadows.

Mika stood dutifully beside the Uchiha as a man with short orange hair and multiple piercings on his face walked up to greet them. A woman with blue hair and a white paper flower in her hair was beside him and they both made a small bow in front of Madara.

"This is Mika. As discussed, she will be the caretaker of the base," he explained and she too bowed courteously.

"My name is Konan and this is Leader-sama," the blue haired woman introduced with a small smile, while the 'leader' gave her a long stare.

"Now, we need to clarify a few key details with you in order to prevent a security breach," Konan said as gestured for them all to sit down on a few chairs.

After they were all comfortably seated, Leader-sama said, "You will say nothing of Madara's existence and you will refer to him only as Tobi. You will call me Leader-sama and I expect you to do everything that I order."

Then, Konan continued for him, "Your duties here will include laundry, cooking, cleaning and if Kakuzu is not here, you will also be the medic."

She did not know who Kakuzu was, but she could guess that he was some sort of healer.

"You might be going on missions with other members, though for now, you will be partnered with Tobi. However, before that begins, you need to be tested to see just how strong you are."

"Tomorrow, you will be put in front of one of the other members and you will fight them," the leader was speaking again now.

"If you are weak, you will always stay at the base and clean, but if you are strong enough, you will be treated like any other member."

Mika swallowed nervously. By the looks of all the massive chakras that were around her, she would have to give her all in tomorrow's battle. After staying inside of the new base for most of the time, she simply could not let herself go through that again.

"Finally, we have to warn you that some of the other members are very violent and they might try to hurt you simply because they can," Madara spoke up.

She nodded and then the subject of the meeting changed to something about 'tailed beasts', the 'moon's eye plan' and the Zetsu army. The last one was the only thing she understood, but she dared not interrupt to get some sort of explanation. At last, an hour later, they were done talking and Madara led her out of the meeting room and into the hallways.

"How does Mika-chan like Leader-sama's base?" Tobi's voice shocked her slightly, but nonetheless, she replied, "It is nice. I can actually see some windows."

"Tobi likes the windows too, but it is always raining so no sunshine can cheer Tobi up!" he announced and she bit her lower lip.

"Then, can we get some Vitamin D supplements are the market? I don't want to get sick again."

He nodded his head vigorously and started to run around her in circles. She rubbed her temples at the idea of being around this hyper _thing_ for extended period of time.

"You are still alive," a familiar male voice said from in front of her and she looked up with wide eyes. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw two Sharingan eyes staring right through her.

"Itachi?" she began, but then answered, "I am just as surprised as you are."

He walked over to stand in front of her, while Tobi screamed and ran down the hallway, which left them alone together.

"Madara must really like you because he usually kills all those who know about him," the younger Uchiha stated as he noted that she was still slightly thinner than he last remembered her to be.

"He still might," she replied and looked him straight in the eyes.

Her eyes were slightly narrowed as she continued, "You sure must sleep well with the burden of the murder of the entire Uchiha clan on your shoulders."

She had a small, fake smile on her face, but it was obvious that she was holding back fury.

"It had to be done," was all he said as he walked past her.

Mika barely heard it, but there was a small tone of regret in his voice. Shaking her head, she figured it had been her imagination and she continued walking down the hallways in search of Tobi.

"Boo!" he yelled from beside her and she nearly screamed.

"Jeez Tobi! Don't do that!" she scolded, but then paused to wonder if this was proper considering the fact that he could easily punish her for looking down on him.

Well, not him, but his alias. Then, the masked man stopped at a door and dramatically threw its door open with a flail of his arms.

"Tada! This is Tobi's and Mika-chan's room!"

She walked in and smiled when she saw that there was a window, bathroom, medium sized closet, a storage drawer and a large bed. The walls were grey, while all the other furniture was brown. The bed cover was dark blue and it matched the carpet.

Mika eyed the one bed suspiciously and said, "Alright, you get the bed. I'll sleep on the floor."

She did not bother adding the fact that she had spent nearly three months on the floor and she was actually rather used to it now. Normal beds just seemed so soft and bad for the back that she simply could not stand them.

"No. You and I will share a bed. After all, we are two mature adults," Madara said in his naturally deep voice.

"Exactly. We are not children so I cannot trust you to have my best interests in mind," she stated with her hands on her hips. It was not a gesture she did often so she found it awkward and dropped her hands to her sides.

"Would you trust Tobi?" the piercing high pitch questioned.

She shuddered. "Not in a bazillion years."

He shoulders dropped and he flailed his arms in the air.

"But Tobi is a good boy!"

"It's always the good ones that you should look out for," she muttered and opened the closet. At one side were clothes clearly of Madara's tastes; tight and black.

On the other side, however, was clothing that was less tight, had natural colors like dark green, dark blue and shades of brown; and was much smaller. She took a shirt off the rack and stared at it with growing confusion.

"Do you like it?" he said from behind her and put his chin on her head.

"It's... feminine," she stated as she pointed to the way the shirt was made to cling to the chest and the curves. For the last three months, she had been wearing Madara's clothing and it was perfectly unfeminine.

"You need to be reminded that you're a woman," he said as he enclosed her waist in his arms.

"But I liked your long Uchiha shirts and pants. They were comfortable..." she mumbled and put the shirt back in the closet.

He sighed, picked up another shirt and pants, handed it to her and said, "Just give it a try. You might like it."

Mika grumbled under her breath and went to go change in the bathroom while Madara stood to look out the window. From the base, they could see the entire town, but that was not necessarily a good thing considering that it was dirty, poor and exceedingly grey.

A few minutes later, she came out with a small frown on her face.

The shirt Madara had chosen for her had a rather low cut and she was unused to showing off that much skin. Plus, the places that were covered in cloth were so tight that it left nothing to the imagination. Yet, the pants were the perfect length and she was rather pleased with them.

He took off his mask and she could see the smirk gracing his features. She let out a gruff sigh, walked over to the closet, took one of his Akatsuki cloaks and threw it on.

"You pervert," she seethed under her breath as she imagined having to do heavy labor in such unsuitable clothing.

"It fits you perfectly," he commented as he came to rest his hands on her shoulders.

"However, you can't wear that cloak since you aren't technically a member," he said with a growing arrogant grin.

Mika huffed and crossed her arms as he took it off and then wrapped his arms around her waist. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Her face was in his chest and she hated to admit that it was rather comforting.

A grimace formed on her face at the idea that just weeks ago, she would have pushed him away in terror. She tensed up when he reached for her right arm and stroked it. The words 'I will stay awake' were still clearly etched on her skin and it seemed that it would turn into a permanent scar. He brought her arm to his face and kissed it tenderly.

"I promise I will never let you be that hurt ever again."

_**To be continued...**_

At last, some fluff! I was rather entertained by the idea of Tobi really being the result of the mask possessing Madara, even though that is not the case.

Currently, all of the Akatsuki members are alive and this is shortly after Orochimaru got kicked out. As the story progresses, I have to warn that I will be straying from the current plot line. Though, I am not sure to what extent I will do that...

Thank you for your wonderful reviews~!

Anyway, any thoughts?


	9. The Victory

First of all, I want to day ~thank you~ to all my faithful reviewers! I love you guys! Thus, it's long overdue that I actually reply to your questions and comments:

_**Joanna Davis**_: You're right, Mika + Tobi = Something very terrible. Wow, I'm glad to know that Mika sounds motherly :D I'm also glad that you picked up on my updating schedule. (It makes me feel special.)

_**Jestie Uchiha**_: Thank you! I'm very glad you liked my stories and yes, I will update soon. (Right now ;D) Madara's change of heart... *Evil grin* There's a very special reason it happened, but for the sake of the plot, I can't tell you right now. (Gosh, I sound like one of those skittish politicians.)

_**Yuti-Chan**_: For Mika's sake, I also hope that Madara will keep his promise. Wow! What an insightful idea- it really would be great if manga Madara still had his long hair! ...But does that mean that the 'Tobi' hair is just a wig? For some reason, the idea of Madara in a wig makes me shudder.

_**HisanaHime**_: I'm glad that despite being so evil, Madara's character was still likable. *Gasp* Don't you dare commit suicide! I'll keep writing- you have my word. (It's actually quite clever to threaten an author with your life.) This might have a lemon. I'm really wrestling with the idea since I've never written lemons before. We'll just have to wait and see how Madara feels. ;)

_**Xana Vlec**_: It was sudden that she isn't afraid of Madara, but it all ties in with the (previously unmentioned) idea of Stockholm Syndrome. He's being nice so her mind accepts that and 'forgets' about evil, sadistic Madara.

Also, special thanks to Anonymous and Angelfang for reviewing!

As for the new chapter, it might get a little sour at the beginning, but it should warm up and get sweet and fluffy later on.

_**Chapter 9- The Victory.**_

"Wait, you never did tell me what the Akatsuki plan to do with all their power," Mika said as she watched Madara choose a shirt from the closet. Much to her misfortune, the Uchiha was adamant about sleeping shirtless and he took some sort of twisted pride in making her blush and look away.

He pulled a normal, medium thick black shirt and replied calmly, "We are going to destroy Konoha, start the Fourth Great Ninja War and take over the world."

Surprise was clear on his features when she laughed.

"You're kidding right? Come on, seriously, you can trust me," she said with a hint of a smile on her face.

"I am serious. We are all S-Ranked criminals and we fully intend to destroy all of the corrupt ninja nations," he restated and her face went blank. There was a tense silence and she really had no idea how the react.

"W-What? That's horrible! You can't!" she announced with growing horror. Yet, somewhere at the back of her mind, she had always known that Madara was evil and that no good would come of being associated with him. He took a threatening step toward and her since he had not yet put on his mask, she could see his dark glare.

"Oh, but I can. And you, Mika, will be right by my side as I do it," he growled. She instinctively backed away, but mentally cursed when her back came in contact with a wall behind her.

Putting her hands in front of her defensively, she announced, "N-No! I won't help you destroy my village!"

Madara chuckled, but it was not a happy sound.

"I did not say you had a choice," he sneered deeply and suddenly, he was standing in front of her. Both of his arms were around her and she could do nothing to stop him as she crashed his lips onto hers. He pushed her flush against the wall with his stomach and she flinched at the feeling of the breath being forced out of her lungs. One of his hands went to the back of her head and applied pressure, which forced her to open her mouth and deepened the kiss.

Briefly, he broke away for a short breath, but then her lips were claimed once more. Mika tried squirming out of his pressuring grasp, but that only made him tighten his grip on her body. She barely had the chance to let out a muffled scream as he picked her up and threw her onto the bed. He was straddling her hips and making any escape impossible without the use of chakra.

Thinking back to the last time this had happened, she gathered her chakra in her stomach and pushed outward to try and get him off. However, much to her dismay, it just went through him and he stopped kissing her for a moment to chuckle and say, "That won't work on me today. I want you now and nothing is going to stop me."

Her eyes widened as he slipped one of his hands under her shirt and reached to cup one of her breasts. She tried to get his hand away, but he was kissing her again and her attention became divided. With his other hand, he pulled his shirt off and his sculpted chest was now pressed against her stomach. He started trying to get her shirt off when suddenly, there was a knock.

"Mika, we need you to come cook breakfast!" another Akatsuki member, who she later learned was Kisame, said bluntly. She sighed in relief when Madara let go of her and got off the bed. Fixing her clothing, which was not hers but Madara's, she gave him a satisfied grin and walked out of the room.

Just as she was leaving, she heard him mutter, "This isn't over."

Upon entering the hallway, she became increasingly confused. An extremely tall, _blue_ man was standing in front of her.

"Uhh..." she started intelligently, but then shook her head and continued, "Hello there, could you please show me where the kitchen is?"

"Sure," the shark-like man with gills said as he started walking down the hallway.

"My name is Kisame and I'm Itachi's partner," he conversed and she chuckled.

"Looks like you got the short end of the stick. Itachi is as much company as a piece of wood," she replied with a smile.

Kisame laughed and agreed, "Yeah, he is really quiet, but compared to the other members, he's the best we've got."

She raised an eyebrow and upon seeing her look, he explained, "We have Zetsu, who is bipolar, black, white and has a Venus flytrap for a head. Then, there is Deidara, who likes to blow things up."

"Sasori is a living puppet. Leader-sama is emotionally dead and calls himself a God, while Konan is the only girl in the base. She's actually quite normal..."

"Hidan has white hair, is immortal and he believes in a Pagan god named Jashin. His partner is Kakuzu, who is obsessed with money."

"You've already had the misfortune of meeting Tobi, who really is the most annoying thing in the world. That just leaves Itachi and me. I'm part shark!" he announced the last part proudly.

Mika nodded and agreed, "Out of all that, Itachi really is the most normal."

There was another turn and then they were at the kitchen. No members had come in other than Kisame and Itachi, who seemed to be the early risers of the bunch.

"So... what do you guys have?" she muttered to herself as she opened the fridge.

It was decently stocked and she had enough food to make everyone breakfast, though she had no idea what their tastes were.

"What would you want for breakfast?" she asked.

Kisame's eyes lit up and he said, "I want pancakes!"

Itachi sighed at his partners excitement and said, "I would like scrambled eggs."

She nodded and started on the eggs, while also gathering all the proper ingredients for the pancakes. Fifteen minutes later, both members had a steaming pile of food on their plates and they exchanged glances before taking the first bite.

Mika waited anxiously until Kisame exclaimed, "Delicious!"

"It is acceptable," Itachi agreed and that was as big of a compliment as anyone would get from the stoic Uchiha.

By then, others were filing in at the smell of food and she took their orders before whipping up a few more batches of eggs, pancakes and... human flesh. The last request had been from Zetsu, who she now knew was a cannibal. An hour later, everyone was fully fed and had gone their separate ways. Kisame and Itachi had been the only ones who had thanked her. Hidan had sworn at her before taking his food, while Kakuzu had been silent. Sasori had explained that he did not eat, while Deidara had given her a haughty glare. Pein and Konan had not shown up and Zetsu had brought in a corpse, which he had made her cook part of.

It was only when the kitchen was empty except for her that Tobi came in. From his one-eyed glare, she could tell that he was still mad about being interrupted in the bedroom.

"Aww... Poor Tobi doesn't look too happy. Did you have a bad dream?" she mocked even thought she knew it would come back to haunt her later.

His eyes narrowed, but he cheerfully replied, "Tobi was having a good dream, but then Kisame-san came in and interrupted Tobi!"

She shook her head and changed the subject by saying, "What do you want for breakfast... er... lunch."

It was already 11:00a.m. so she doubted that could be considered breakfast.

"Tobi wants a sausage, but he wants it to be put into a bagel," he said with his arms smugly crossed.

"By 'into' do you mean like a sandwich or do you just want me to put the sausage into the bagel hole?" she asked with growing suspicion.

"Put it into the hole," he said, but this time, his voice dropped a few tones.

Mika furrowed her brow and muttered, "Is that some sort of messed up metaphor?"

He smirked under the mask and announced, "The bagel deserves to have a sausage in it!"

Her eyes narrowed and she countered, "What if the bagel doesn't want that? Maybe it's an innocent bagel that wants nothing to do with the sausage!"

"Bagels and sausage are meant to be together!" he continued shrilly.

"No! You have to get the permission of the bagel first!"

"Not if the sausage owns the bagel!"

"Sausages have no right to own bagels! It's illegal!"

"Maybe the sausage is a criminal and it cares nothing about the law!"

"Then it's a stupid sausage that deserves to be bagel-less for the rest of its life!"

"Uh... Should I come back at a different time?" Kisame interrupted their yelling match with a nervous clearing of the throat.

Mika cast Tobi one last glare before saying, "No, it's alright. Are you ready for lunch?"

The shark-like man nodded so she continued, "Since everyone comes in at a different time, I just decided to whip up a large tub full of chicken noodle soup. Whenever you want some, just take it so that I don't have to stand here all day."

Then, she washed and dried her hands before walking out of the kitchen.

Though, before she left, she turned to Tobi and said, "You will never get my bagel."

...

"This is Deidara and he is also new to the Akatsuki. You will fight him and if you win, you will also become a member. If not, you will continue to be the cleaner," Pein said blankly as Mika and Deidara stood in front of each other.

They were in the main training room and all the other Akatsuki members had gathered to watch the fight. After all, it was raining outside and this was the only entertaining thing for miles.

She got into a defensive stance and gathered chakra in her hands as she waited for the blond bomb expert to come at her. He gathered some clay into his hands... mouths... and molded a bird.

"You may begin the fight," Pein announced and at once, she sprinted forward.

The clay bird was flying toward her, but she did the unexpected the grabbed it with her hand.

"Katsu!" Deidara screamed in glee, clearly eager to see her arm be blown to bits.

However, there was barely an explosion and Mika released the chakra shield around her hand, which made ash topple to the ground slowly.

"How-" the blond started, but she was already running at him. He blocked with taijutsu and threw a lump of clay at her, but since they were so close, she was able to use her chakra shield to sent it right back at him.

It did not explode so she charged again. This time, he drew a kunai and tried to stab her with it. She drew a dagger and blocked each of hit blows carefully. There was the off chance that the dagger would explode so she wanted to be sure that it was safe to be so close to it. Mika knew full well that if even one of those clay creations touched her skin, she would be unable to win the battle.

They continued exchanging blows, but she noticed that Deidara seemed to be slower than Itachi. Gathering her concentration, she jumped back did the seals for the fire ball jutsu and blew out. It went straight for him and just as expected, he threw another bird shaped lump of clay at her through the flames.

She did more hand seals and instantly, two clones were standing beside her. One of them went to deal with the clay explosive, while her and the other one changed at Deidara. By then, he had plenty more explosives so her clone ran ahead of her with the chakra shield up at full force.

As a result, they were able to get right up to him and throw several kunai. He jumped up and to the side to avoid them as they continued the barrage. Suddenly, the clone had she had summoned earlier appeared behind Deidara and grabbed him. The blond struggled and kicked the clone away, but just at that moment, both Mika and the first clone blew giant fireballs at him.

She jumped back a few feet and waited to see what he would do next. There was shadowy movement and when the smoke settled, she could see Pein standing in front of Deidara. The orange haired man had blocked her fireballs to save Deidara.

"The battle is over. Mika Aranuki is the victor," he stated blankly and there was scattered applause from the audience. Quite noticeably, Tobi was the loudest. Kisame was also clapping, while Itachi was giving her an odd stare.

"Congratulations, you are now officially a member of the Akatsuki," Konan said as she jumped down from the seats and handed Mika a black cloak with red clouds. She smiled and thanked them, all the while mentally frowning at the irony. Here she was, a member of a top secret organization, but she was wholeheartedly against their goals.

With a bow, she excused herself and walked out of the room. Deidara ran after her and he yelled, "Hey, un, wait!"

She slowed slightly until he caught up with her. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I learned from the best," she stated with a knowing smile.

"You're not referring to that weasel Itachi, are you?" he questioned and then continued, "Your fighting style is like his. You know, fireballs and everything."

She furrowed her brow at the idea, but then realized that the blond was right. Minus the Sharingan, she fought just like Itachi. Of course, she had less chakra than him, but more or less, she was like a female version of him.

Deidara noticed that she was frowning and said, "What? You do fight like him."

"Thank you for bringing that to my attention Deidara-san. You're a pretty great fighter as well. If it wasn't for my chakra shield, I would have been a goner," she chuckled.

"Yeah, un, I've never seen anyone do that before. Is it an original jutsu?"

Nodding, she said, "Yes, back in my academy days, I was intrigued by what chakra alone could do without any jutsu and the result was the chakra shield."

"Kinda like the Rasengan, you know, the Fourth's jutsu," the blond conversed.

"Yes, it uses the same principles. Anyway, Deidara-san, I hope that this battle won't make us enemies or anything. I think we could get along rather well," she said with another smile.

He mirrored her smile and said, "Of course. And you can just call me Deidara."

Then, he turned around and walked back to the training room. Mika mentally congratulated herself for making a new friend and resumed walking down the hallway.

Suddenly, two red Sharingan eyes were staring at her from the dark.

She sighed and said, "Hello, Itachi."

He said nothing about her lack of honorifics, but said, "You do not find your membership suspicious?"

"What do you mean? I won that battle fair and square, or maybe you're just upset because you can't stand to see me win anything," she countered with a glare.

"Why would Madara let you join the Akatsuki even though he knows that you want to save your village?" was all the younger Uchiha said before disappearing.

The breath hitched in her throat and her mind went blank. Itachi was completely correct; there was no reason for her to be here.

With growing confusion and worry, she walked to her and Madara's room. When she was at the door, she made two clones and sent them to various places around the base. Then, if Madara chose to try and take advantage of her, she could do the seals for the reverse summoning jutsu and she would be able to switch places with one of her clones. It was basically guaranteed safety.

After taking a deep breath, she opened the door and walked in. Madara was already there and his mask was off as he stared at her.

"You're now a member of the Akatsuki. You should look happier," he said and trialed her with his eyes as she sat down on the bed.

Her back to toward him as she asked, "Why did you let me join? You know that I have no intention of helping this organization."

"There is still a lot you need to learn about all of this and I am sure that when you do, you will put in all of your energy into destroying your precious Konoha," he said smugly. She turned around to face him and found him smirking.

"As a matter of fact, I am allowing you to go to Konoha. You may leave whenever you want and you are free to be there as long as you please," he continued and her eyes widened.

"You must be lying," was her first reaction.

"No I am not. It is a three day run from here to there so you might want to bring some food and supplies with you."

Then, he walked over to her, gave her a light kiss on the lips before putting his mask back on and walking out of the room. Mika was absolutely speechless, but she knew not to waste a good opportunity. She quickly gathered a few days' worth of supplies and ran out of the base.

Finally, she would get to find out the truth for herself.

_**To be continued...!**_

Wow... even I am rather shocked at the current events. Still, Madara actually has a reason for sending her out by herself to Konoha and it will become rather apparent in the next chapter. Prepare for more crazy plot twists!

Oh and I hope you guys got the whole 'bagel' and 'sausage' metaphor... Sad thing is that I can actually imagine someone like Tobi arguing about something like that...

Any thoughts?


	10. The Betrayal

Hello! Mika is on her way to Konoha, but it has been three months since she had disappeared. A lot of things have changed... Including her.

_**Chapter 10- The Betrayal.**_

Mika stood at the copious, wooden gates to Konoha. They were just as she had remembered them; strong, proud and free. With a deep breath, she walked through them and into the bustling city she had once called home. People were milling all around and no one was paying attention to her as she walked down the familiar streets to her former apartment.

She peeked into the window and sighed upon seeing it filled with foreign furniture. Though unlikely, she had been hoping that her apartment had been preserved. Now she was just wondering where all of her stuff was.

Stepping away from the site, she decided to get right to business and go speak to the Hokage. After all, there was a huge amount of information that needed to be exchanged and there was no time to spare. She settled on taking the shorter route through the Uchiha compound.

When she got there, she momentarily expected to see many black haired Uchiha walking around, talking and training. However, the compound was an empty wasteland and reality came crashing back down on her. An unfamiliar pang of pain went through her heart at the idea of never being able to see her friends from the Uchiha clan. Some of the most special people to her had lived here. Other than them, she had no ties to the outside world seeing as her parents had died when she was a teenager and she had no known relatives.

Now she was actually alone.

Part of her brain reminded her that she had Madara and the rest of the Akatsuki, but she pushed that thought out of her mind. Picking up her pace, she went straight for the Hokage's office. Mika walked in without any hesitation and ran up the stairs to the main room.

His chakra was inside so she just knocked on the door and waited. A guard opened the door and gasped upon seeing her appearance. At first, she was insulted, but then she remembered that she was still wearing an Akatsuki cloak.

She marched right in and the Hokage looked up from his work. His eyes widened, but then narrowed. He became tense and his voice was laced with disgust as he said, "Aranuki, what are you doing here?"

Ignoring the hostility, she smiled at him and said, "I'm finally back. I thought I would never get to see Konoha again."

"But more importantly, I am here to inform you of a major threat to Konoha's safety. I have news of the Fourth Great Ninja War and who really killed the Uchiha clan. We need to act now or many innocent civilians will die."

Even thought she knew that sharing all that information might get her killed, she dared not hold it in or guilt would consume her.

The Third Hokage stood up and glared at her. "You have the decency to come here and show your face to us while wearing an Akatsuki cloak?"

"Let me explain," she stated calmly. By then, several guards had gathered around them and they looked poised to attack.

"When you hear my story, you can decided whether you still want to capture me or not," she continued.

He sighed and sat back down in his seat. "Speak."

"Three months ago, I was on my way to retrieve the scroll as instructed, but Uchiha Madara injured me and I was captured. He brought me to one of the Akatsuki bases and forced me to train with Uchiha Itachi."

"Wait. Uchiha _Madara_," he interrupted.

"Yes, he is alive and well, though I am unsure how he managed to do this. Anyway, after two months of training, both Itachi and Madara left suddenly and I later found out that they killed the Uchiha clan together."

He nodded. "We are already aware that Itachi killed his own clan."

"After that, I was forced to clean and build various things in the Akatsuki base. There, I discovered that Madara already has an army of 100 000 soldiers. They are residing at the base."

At that comment, everyone in the room gasped. The number mentioned was more than all of the ninjas in all of ninja nations.

"Then, I was brought to the base at Rain Country. There, I fought another member named Deidara and they made me a member. Hence, I have a cloak," she explained and crossed her arms.

"The plans of the Akatsuki are to start and win the Fourth Great Ninja War using the tailed beasts. Their current goal is to crush Konoha and that is why I came to warn you. They are extremely powerful and we need to gather resources to protect ourselves."

The Hokage tapped his fingers on his desk and mulled the information over. It was certainly a lot to take in and if what she was saying was true, it would have devastating implications.

Finally, he said, "I do not believe you. Uchiha Madara is dead, Itachi killed the clan alone, we would have known if there was an army of 100 000 people, and no one is planning to attack Konoha."

She would have argued, but he continued, "Let me tell you what the truth is."

Mika closed her mouth and hoped that some reality would be revealed.

"Here is what you really did for the last three months; you stole the scroll you were supposed to retrieve and gave it to the Akatsuki. That's why they made you a member and sent you on this mission to trick me into their trap."

"Wha-" "That was a bijuu sealing scroll and thanks to you, they now have the ability to remove tailed beasts from their hosts," he interrupted with a burning glare.

"I will hear no more from you. Guards, arrest her," he said conclusively.

They all jumped on her at once and as she avoided their blows, she heard the Hokage say, "You are a traitor."

She gathered chakra in her arms and extended them outward; creating a chakra shield that blew the guards back. Mika jumped out of the window and onto the ground several meters below. Already, more guards were running out and they were throwing kunai in her direction.

Before she could move, a few of them hit her, but she ignored the pain and shot down the streets of Konoha. Since she could not block from behind, it was not much of a surprise when three kunai became deeply embedded in her skin. Gritting her teeth, she stopped dead in her tracks and did the hand signs for the fireball jutsu. With a fierce breath, she blew at the hoard of guards. They jumped away and she briefly pulled the kunai out of her back before continuing to run.

As she turned a corner, her eyes locked with a little boy with spiky black hair and onyx eyes. He looked completely shocked and in an instant, his eyes turned red.

She gasped and muttered, "Uchiha."

Mika stopped in front of him, intent on asking him why he was still alive, but she then heard the guards yelling behind her and resumed to run. The boy watched her dash away and that was the day he began to wonder about the female Akatsuki member who knew an Uchiha clan jutsu.

Meanwhile, she darted out of the Konoha main gates and into the forest. By then, they had fallen behind slightly and she took that moment to jump into a tree and smother her chakra. Hidden by the foliage, she was unseen as they continued past her.

It was only a few hours later that she dared hop out of the tree and run further into the forest. When she came upon a clearing, she stopped and took a deep breath. That had gone completely not according to plan. Didn't the Hokage understand that she was telling the truth?

With a sigh, she plopped down on the grass. She had no idea what to do next, but there was no way she could give up. After racking her brain for any ideas, she remembered that the next people in line of power were the Konoha elders. They seemed like wise intellectuals so she figured she could try and talk to them.

Standing up, she did the seals for the transformation jutsu and her appearance changed to that of an ordinary civilian. She jogged back in the direction of the gates. After all, they probably would not expect her to return so there was no need to worry about ease of access.

Half an hour later, she was standing at the entrance to their large compound. There were guards at the entrance so she used chakra to climb over the tall, stone wall. It was sheer luck that no one saw her and soon enough, she was inside the house.

Closing her eyes, she identified that the chakras of the elders were in the main living room. She boldly walked in and they stopped talking when they saw her.

"Hello there miss, what are you doing here?" one of the males asked.

"I am here to inform you of a threat to Konoha security. It is pertinent that you hear what I have to say," she said as she undid the transformation jutsu.

"Akatsuki," they sneered upon seeing her cloak.

"You must be Mika Aranuki and the Hokage has already told us about the bogus lies that you told him," a female one said.

"I speak the truth!" she announced and took a threatening step forward.

"Your entire alibi falls apart from the very beginning because Uchiha Madara is dead," the male one continued.

"He is not; I thought you would understand that. He is an extremely powerful shinobi and there are forbidden techniques out there to extend life," she explained.

"Listen, child, there is a lot you do not know and if you keep digging around like this, it will get you in trouble," another one patronized.

She paused for a moment to maul over the last statement. At last, she said, "You know something don't you?"

They were all silent and she narrowed her eyes before coming up to one of the male ones. He had a scar on his chin in the shape of an 'x' and the right side of his face, along with his right arm, were in bandages.

From the academy, she remembered his face and said, "You must be Danzo, right? Then tell me what you know."

He merely grunted so she used one of her hands to grab him by the neck and shove him against the wall. If she was already considered a criminal, there was nothing to loose.

"Tell me the truth!" she yelled and the other elders jumped up to try and help their comrade. She put a chakra shield up and they became unable to come any closer. Danzo was doing nothing to stop her so she tightened her grip on his neck and hissed, "I _will _kill him."

At last, one of the female elders sighed and sat down. "If you let him go, we will tell you."

Mika narrowed her eyes, but complied and turned around to face the woman.

"The Uchiha clan was indeed killed by Uchiha Itachi, but it was by our order," she said and the room went deathly silent.

Her entire world crashed down and for what seemed like the millionth time, she felt like she had been heartlessly betrayed. The monstrocity of such an order was incomprehensible and all at once, she felt grief, pain, shock, distress and depression.

"You... _You_ ordered it!" she growled as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea.

They said nothing, but then Danzo spoke up, "Now that you know, we must kill you."

She clutched her head and sneered, "You're the reason my friends are dead. You're the reason I have _no one_. How dare you go and make such an inhumane decision! You had no right!"

Suddenly, a sharp pain went through her side and she saw that a dagger was embedded in her. Mika gasped and fell to the ground. Her arms went to the wound and she pulled the weapon out before struggling to get into a crouching position.

The elders looked down on her with something akin to pity and blood trickled down her chin. Danzo came to stand in front of her with another dagger at hand.

Despite the pain, she jumped back and drew a kunai of her own. He ran at her and they started exchanging blows. Meanwhile, the others were gathering around in a circle. She cursed and saw that she was now surrounded by them.

Suddenly, there was the sound of an explosion and one of the walls of the buildings was blown away. In its place was a large swarm of ninjas. Among them were ANBU members, jounin, and even the Hokage was there. Mika relied solely on instinct as she jumped over the ring of elders around her, behind one of them and grabbed them.

She brought a kunai to her captive's throat and yelled, "If you so much as take a step closer, I will kill her!"

The woman in her grasp was an elder, but Mika did not know her name.

"Aranuki, you know that you will not get out of this alive," the Hokage countered and the ninjas moved the surround the building. They got out canisters of what she assumed was tear gas and threw it into the building. Smoke filled her vision and she barely saw the shadows of her former allies sneaking in.

"Not... A step... Further," she said in between coughs.

Breathing was becoming a true challenge and her eyes were watering. Someone clenched her leg and out of pure reflex, she pulled the kunai back and closer to herself.

There was the sound of tortured gasping and the woman in her arms went limp. Mika let got of her and the elder fell to the ground. Even though smoke was blurring her vision, she could clearly see the deep throat wound she had just delivered to the woman.

Blood was pooling out of the injury and she dropped her kunai in horror. She felt herself being grabbed from behind, but her body had frozen. Someone pushed her down to the ground and she vaguely felt that she was being tied up. Her mind went blank, but suddenly, a thought broke through her head.

'_Are you really going to die here?'_

With a gasp, she started struggling and using pure force, she broke the rope around her hands and feet. Using her chakra shield, she was able to push away all the ninjas within a meter in front of herself. They instantly reacted by throwing explosive tags at her, but she gathered chakra in her legs and jumped straight up. Explosions went down below her and she landed in the aftermath cloud.

Drawing a kunai, she charged straight ahead. Using both chakra and taijutsu, she forced the ninjas away from her and managed to fight her way out of the house.

However, she frowned when she saw a crowd ten times as large just outside. Taking a deep breath, she made several clones and they all did the hand seals for the fire dragon jutsu. Blood red flames enveloped the crowd and everyone went their separate ways, except for Mika. She brought her chakra shield back up and she ran right into the flames. Though she could not breathe, it was a guaranteed way to make sure that no one would attack her.

Bursting out of the flames, she caught the attention of the ninjas and they all started running right at her. Her clones did their best to fight them off, but that only got her a small head start. Just like last time, she shot out of the Konoha main gates and into the forest. Everyone was still behind her and her injuries were starting to take their toll. Her back stung and her side was still gushing precious blood.

Unexpectedly, several masked ninjas appeared beside her and they all simultaneously jumped on her. She threw herself to the ground and rolled out of the way before continuing to run. Nevertheless, they were quite persistent and they eventually managed to trap her on the side of a cliff.

To one of her sides, there was a deep ravine with spikes on its sides. It happened to be the same ravine that Jiraiya had thrown Naruto in during training. (When Naruto learned how to summon toads.)

To her other side, were all of the Konoha ninja. Mika bit her bottom lip and shook her head.

"Damn it, I did not want it to be like this," she muttered as they advanced toward her.

With a deep breath, she gave every one of her former friends a last glance and jumped backwards into the bottomless pit. The silence surrounded her like the cloak of the Grim Reaper and her heart skipped a beat upon realizing her short, bleak future. She was falling to darkness.

_**To be continued...!**_

This chapter was a bit shorter than the others, but I tried to make up for it by filling it with as much action as possible. And yes, it's a cliffhanger. *grins* Thanks to all those who reviewed last chapter~!

Any thoughts?


	11. The Homecoming

Hello! Mika stirred up quite a lot of trouble in Konoha, eh? I wanted to have her kill Danzo, but I figured that would deprive me of the awesome battle where Sasuke kills the Sharingan-stealing bastard. ...Anyway, here is the next chapter!

_**Chapter 11- The Homecoming.**_

Mika closed her eyes and let herself fall into the ravine. She had nothing to loose; her home, her friends and her innocence were all gone. Taking a deep breath, she waited for her body to be shattered into pieces and never to be put together again. After being close to death so many times, she was no longer afraid.

Suddenly, the breath was forced out of her lungs and she hit something hard. Her eyes snapped open when that 'something' grunted and started going up. She was half way to the bottom, but she was slowly being lifted to safety. Craning her neck, she was astonished to see Itachi holding her.

"Itachi," she whispered and wrapped her arms around his neck to get a better hold. He gave another burst of chakra and they were on solid ground once more. Mika glanced across the ravine and saw that all the Konoha ninjas were staring at them with looks ranging from shock to anger and finally to relief. The little black haired boy from before was the relieved looking one, but when his eyes landed on Itachi, he frowned.

"Capture her!" the Hokage yelled as he ran to jump across the canyon.

She gasped, but instantly, Itachi was already running away. He swerved between trees at a blinding speed and he did not stop for a full hour. During that time, they did not say anything to each other, but rather, Itachi focused on running and Mika applied pressure to all of her major wounds. After all, what would be the point of Itachi's heroic rescue if she just died of blood loss on the way back?

Finally, many miles away from Konoha, he stopped running and placed her down on a fallen tree. She gave him a weak smile and he turned around to leave, but she reached out to grab his sleeve.

"Wait, I have to ask you something," she blurted as he turned around to face her.

"When I was in Konoha, the elders said that they ordered you to kill the Uchiha clan... Is that true?"

He glared down at her before finally saying, "Yes."

Before he could turn around again, she continued, "And I saw a little boy there. He looked like he was about eight years old, but he had the Sharingan. Didn't you kill all of the Uchiha clan?"

This time, a slimmer of pain flickered through the man's eyes and he paused before replying, "That was my brother, Sasuke. He was the only one that I could not kill."

She nodded and let go of his sleeve. Itachi turned around and started walking away, when unexpectedly, she came at him from behind and gave him a hug. He did nothing to push her away, but he did tense at the contact.

"Thank you," was all she said, though she really had no idea why he had saved her in the first place. It was for everything- for saving her, for training her, for telling her the truth and for bothering to warn her about various things.

Mika stepped back and he did not say anything as he broke into a sprint and within seconds, he disappeared. She smiled, but then grimaced as the reality of the situation came to her. From what she could tell, she was in the middle of no where, she had no food, no water and she was slowly bleeding out from her back and side.

With a sigh, she took her Akatsuki cloak off, ripped the sleeves of the shirt she was wearing and used them to bandage her wounds. Then, she put the cloak back on and started walking in the opposite direction of Rain Country. Though she had no home other than the Akatsuki, she just was not ready to go back there yet. So many things had happened and her mind had not yet fully comprehended them all.

The hours ticked by as she wandered in the forest. It was oddly silent and it seemed that not one soul was in the forest. There wasn't even the sound of birds chirping or squirrels scampering around. The scenery actually did a rather good job of mirroring her emotions because she felt so numb that she wondered if her emotions had died. Shaking her head, she corrected the thought; her emotions were alive, but all she could feel was pain.

At last, she got to a lake and decided to stop walking. There was a rumble and she looked up to see a brilliant flash of lightning. It crept all across the sky and she sat down on a nearby rock to watch. Just for a moment, she was distracted from her problems by the lightshow. One last rumble tore through the land and it was replaced by the gentle pitter patter of rain.

Mika closed her eyes and faced the sky, letting the raindrops slide down her face to give the impression of crying. She sighed and reopened her eyes to look at her hands. A few simple hours ago, these same hands had taken a life.

Of course, it was customary for all ninjas to have their share of kills, but she had not expected her first kill to be someone from her own village. The image of the blood pouring out of the elder's wound became vividly clear in her mind and she flinched. Her shoulders sagged and she took in a deep, shuddery breath.

She was a murderer.

Looking back up, the relentless rain battered her weathered soul. Rain streaked down her length and it made her shiver. Pain, guilt, remorse, regret and lament burned her from the inside and yet, she still did not shed a single tear. With blank, emotionless eyes, she stared into the grey depths above her head.

"The sky cries the tears that I cannot shed."

...

Madara leaned on the side of the wall of the Akatsuki base in Rain Country. It had been two full weeks since he had allowed Mika to traverse into Konoha. Itachi had returned several days ago with a trance of her chakra on him, but the elder Uchiha had not bothered to confront the younger Uchiha. At last, this morning, he had felt her presence at the border of the country.

He waited patiently as she wandered down the streets and at last, to the base. She looked exhausted and her cloak was splattered with blood. Her injuries had healed, but her clothes were thoroughly strained red. There was a sadness about her, but underneath that, he could sense a hint of determination. When she saw him, her eyes lit up and her pace became brisker.

"Madara," she started calmly as she came to stand right in front of him.

"Mika," he replied in his natural deep voice. Though his mask was on, no one was around so it was safe for them to talk.

"You were right. There were a lot of things I needed to learn."

She gave him a tiny smile and continued, "But now I know exactly what I want to do."

He raised an eyebrow at her as she disposed of the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her head was nuzzled in his chest and he responded by pulling her closer.

"Konoha and the rest of the corrupt ninja world will be destroyed."

The corners of his lips tugged upon hearing the statement.

"And I, Mika Aranuki, will do everything in my power to help you."

She reached up to remove his mask and she planted a soft, sweet kiss on his lips. He kissed back feverishly, but she pulled back before it could turn French.

"I never did thank you for saving my life all those times..." she started with a suggestive grin.

Madara smirked, put his mask back on, picked her up bridal style and said, "Just say where and when and I will be there."

A thoughtful look passed on her face before she said, "Akatsuki kitchen. 8:00p.m. tonight."

He raised an eyebrow at the odd place, but said nothing as he carried her inside.

"Mika-Chan came home!" he yelled in his Tobi voice as he walked into the living room. A few grumbles of approval came from the other members and Kisame gave her a wide grin.

"Can we have pancakes?" he asked and instantly, Deidara jumped up.

"No! I wanted sushi!"

"Wait- What about ramen?" Konan suggested.

"Screw ramen! I want some fucking soup!" Hidan announced.

"Soup is for losers. We should have some vegetables," Kakuzu interjected and everyone gave him a shocked look.

"What? When you get to my age, you need to take care of your diet," the stitch-faced man defended.

"I want tacos!" Deidara continued.

"What the hell? Make up your mind sushi or tacos?" Hidan yelled.

"Pancakes!"

"Would you shut up about your damn pancakes! What sort of S-ranked Criminals eat pancakes!" Konan surprised everyone by yelling.

"I say we are having ramen! You got that?" she continued and everyone paled slightly.

After that no one said a word about food, but quietly filed out of the room to leave the blue haired woman alone.

Madara backed out of the room with Mika still in his arms and whispered, "You really came back to this?"

She chuckled and let herself be carried until they got to the kitchen.

"Now, Tobi, be a good boy and go play with the other children while I make everyone dinner," she said with a wag of her finger.

He pursed his lips, but obeyed and walked out. Mika set out to make everyone ramen and she shook her head upon realizing that none of the other members had actually said 'hello' to her but instead, they had decided to argue about food.

Within half an hour, all eleven portions of ramen were sitting on the table and steaming quietly. She took a deep breath to yell for everyone to come and get the food, but then blew it out. Why yell when there were other means for attracting attention?

It took a little rummaging, but she managed to find a large pot and a giant steel club to match it. With a lick of the lips, she bent back and struck the pot with the club with all of her might. A soul-shuddering CLANG echoed through out the base and instantly, several members ran in.

"Mika? Why are you holding that pot...?" Deidara trailed off.

"I didn't feel like yelling till I got hoarse so I just decided to get your attention in a different way," she said with a grin.

"We could always just get you a bell," Zetsu muttered under his breath.

Soon enough, everyone took their portion, mumbled their thanks and left. The only reason anyone had thanked her was because she was still holding the steel club in her hands and she looked rather... tense. When alone, she scarfed her portion down and sat down in a chair with a relieved sigh.

She furrowed her brow as she tried to figure out what to do about Madara. From her quiet innuendo, he clearly expected her to give herself up to him, but she was thinking of messing with his head instead. Chewing her bottom lip, she realized that if she was too much of a tease, he would ignore her pleas and just take her where she stood.

The thought alone made a blush tint her cheeks a rosy pink. She was embarrassed to remember that she was a virgin and even if they did do anything, she would prove to be a disappointment. Her mood dampened as she really started analyzing the situation more clearly.

Madara was her cruel captor- an evil man and yet, he had helped her survive the past few months. When she was with him, she felt safe, but that was not very trustworthy considering how many times he had hurt her before. A frown formed on her features. What if he hurt her again?

Millions more questions milled about her head and she had no idea how to deal with them. After all, she didn't even know if what she had with Madara could be considered a relationship. Their feelings had never been discussed and she got the hint that all the Uchiha felt for her was lust. Sighing, she leaned back in her seat.

Though it would be bothersome, she knew exactly what to do.

...

"Mika, are you ready?" Madara's seductive voice lured from the hallway.

She chuckled nervously and took a deep breath before saying, "Come in, Madara-sama."

He seemed to be pleased by the honorific because he said, "That's right, tonight I am your master in every way."

Her poker face nearly faltered when the Uchiha walked in without his mask and a glance that seemed to drip of pure lust. With a clearing of the throat, she gestured for him to sit down. That was when he noticed the banquet of food on the table. There was everything from apple pie to lasagna to chicken wings. It was all perfectly decorated and presented in a way fit for a king. She gave him a smile whereas he gave her a confused nose wrinkle. She noticed it and her smile widened.

"I prepared a feast for you. Do you like it?" she said, but there was a mocking hint under it.

"Mika, this is not what I had expected," he stated honestly and inspected the food once more.

Looking as innocent as she could, she replied, "What were you expecting?"

It was rather obvious from his atmosphere, but she would never miss a chance to mess with his head.

He chuckled, but narrowed his eyes at her. "You know I will still get what I want tonight."

"If what you want is food, then go ahead, it's all yours," she continued the charade.

The Uchiha gave her another lustful look and she swallowed her fear. Looking down, she started loading some food on her plate. Another mischievous grin came upon her features and she threw caution into the wind. After all, this was the perfect opportunity to get some well deserved revenge.

"I'm just curious, if I brought a woman in here, you know, a random stranger, would you want to do anything with her?"

There was an awkward silence and Madara carefully chewed the piece of beef he was eating before replying, "Yes, I would kill her. You know that outsiders are not allowed in the base."

"That's not what I mean. Let's say she was in your bed in her birthday suit. Would that make you even slightly interested?" she said and plopped a grape into her mouth.

"Mika, I have no interest in strange women that I do not know," he replied gruffly and bit down on a carrot a little too forcefully.

She chuckled. "Come now, there is no need to lie. I am a woman you barely know and yet, you showed up expecting to enjoy some interloping."

"Just say sex," he commented and she raised and eyebrow at him.

"Interloping makes it sound dirty," he muttered.

With a scoff, she retorted, "Pfft! Sex is dirty and disgusting. Interloping makes it sound more polite."

This time, he scoffed. "There is nothing polite about two people wrestling each other down and fighting for control."

"That's not what it is about! Interloping is about two people who love each other coming together completely!" she yelled and stood up from her chair to point an accusing fork at the Uchiha.

He growled and stood up as well. "It's all about power!"

"No it's not! It's about love and compassion. You're just too arrogant to see that!" she continued and stabbed the fork into the table.

"You might as well stop lying to yourself now. After all, I have all night to show you that I'm right," he sneered and leaned closer to her.

They were at opposite sides of the table so she did not feel threatened by the gesture.

"Oh? And who told you that you would even see me tonight?"

"If I want something, I will take it and nothing will stop me," he growled and suddenly, he was behind her.

She let out a muffled shriek as he picked her up and everything started to spin. They appeared back in their room and she cursed under her breath. He roughly dropped her on the bed and he was about to say something seductive, but she put her hands up in front of her defensively and yelled, "Section 3 Paragraph 7 of the book on Human Interactions states that for better results during intercourse, the two participants must be in a committed relationship!"

The Uchiha stared at her like she had finally gone crazy so she continued, "We are not in a relationship so technically, intercourse will be bad, short, and at the end, your baby maker will fall off."

Alright, so she had made the last part up, but it was all to prove her point.

"What makes you think we are not in a relationship?" he questioned.

She clambered off the other side of the bed and stood up. "Master and helpless slave don't count as a relationship in this case."

He opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted him, "And we're obviously not friends because you keep stabbing me at random times."

A thoughtful look passed onto his features and he looked down for a moment.

Mika sighed and whispered, "Have you ever thought about this from my point of view? You just took me away from the one place I called home, tortured me for three months, nearly killed me over and over again and then, to top it all off, you suddenly want things to get physical."

His anger flared up and he growled, "You're still alive. You should be bowing at my feet and not disobeying my will."

Her hands clenched into fists and she hissed, "There you go again with your arrogant crap! For once in your goddamn life, think about someone else but yourself! I have feelings too! Why the hell don't you care!"

He seemed to be a bit taken back by her fury, but he was Uchiha Madara and it took a lot more than a little screaming to get the message through to him.

"I have fed you, clothed you and this is what you have to say?" he sneered and walked around the bed to stand just a few feet away from her.

She was tense and there was chakra swirling around her as she threatened, "If you so much as take one more step toward me, I will make you regret it."

He seemed rather amused and he mocked, "Oh, what are you going to do, woman? Scream? Fight? _Nothing you can do will ever stop me_."

With a deep frown, Mika gathered chakra into her hands and did a few hand seals.

"I am no longer the weak little ninja I was when you first met me. It's about damn time you figured it out!"

_**To be continued...!**_

Oh~ Tension! Finally, Mika gets to stand up to herself. After all, its not like she would just forgive Madara for scarring each and every one of her limbs. Madara really is such a delightful character to work with. He can be so calm one moment, but then completely off the handle the next. There are just so many complex sides to him that I'm not always sure how he will react.

Any thoughts?


	12. The Settling

Time to reply to your reviews!

**_InvaderXJadeXUchiha:_** ;D Yes, I put a cliffhanger (again) so my apologies if that makes you explode... It's really not my intention to make anyone suffer! (Except Madara for being such an asshole, but that's a whole other issue.)

**_Jestie Uchiha_**: I'm glad you liked the whole sausage/bagel thing. It was so amusing to write. Honestly, Itachi never really hated Mika- he just acted like it to make himself look strong in front of Madara. Plus, he's not that fond of showing his true feelings.

**_Joanna Davis_**: My story screams M rating? (Madara makes everything perverted!) I haven't actually decided if I'm going to include a lemon. Maybe Madara needs to suffer a little bit more sexual frustration before anything happens ;D.

**_Yuti-Chan_**: I like how you called him Madara-sama~. Konoha really is corrupt, despite the fact that they keep trying to create peace.

Special thanks to **_animefreaklizzy_**, **_HisanaHime_** and **_Rima-chan_** for reviewing! Also, I am very grateful for all of the favorites and alerts!

Anyway, the drama continues~.

_**Chapter 12- The Settling.**_

"I'm not the same weak little ninja I was when you first met me. It's about damn time you figured that out!" Mika yelled and suddenly, her chakra flared around her in a circle. Madara narrowed his eyes as she did a few more hand seals and the chakra ring stretched out to float all around her.

"I was gone for two weeks. Did you honestly think that I did nothing during that entire time?" she hissed and extended her hand in front of her.

The chakra ring melded around her body as a glowing shield and he activated his Sharingan to notice that her previously hand controlled chakra shield had now evolved into a thing of its own. It was charging her entire body with energy and had it been any other situation, he would have complimented her for being able to come up with such a fascinating technique.

There was an eerie coldness about her as she crouched down and then charged at the Uchiha. He held back a sigh as he drew a kunai and blocked her attacks. They were still in the bedroom so each of their movements was short, swift and required a lot of careful maneuvering. As they parried blows, jumped forward and then back again, he did not fail to notice how consumed by fury she looked.

"Mika, stop this foolishness," he ordered when her attacks turned more savage.

"Not until I get it through your head that you are a monster that deserves nothing more than an exorcism," she stated and threw several kunai at him.

They all went through him and into the wall behind him, but she paid no attention to that as she continued her barrage. She knew that it was impossible for her to ever be able to defeat him in battle, but her emotions were too busy raging inside her head for her to rationalize. Madara suddenly rushed forward and grabbed her by the throat.

"I told you to stop."

"And I told you to stop thinking about your own selfish needs!" she yelled and grabbed the hand that was restraining her.

She forced chakra into her grip and it would have easily severed the hand of a normal ninja. Madara, however, was no normal ninja. He narrowed his eyes and pushed her against the nearest wall. Mika had been expecting this so she used the wall to help her legs push her forward.

The momentum threw her ahead and she quickly pried his grip off before aiming a punch at his head. Her hand went through his head and she mentally cursed his fazing technique. The Uchiha growled and reached to grab her once more.

However, she was now across the room and by the door. She looked him in the eyes for a split second before throwing the door open and sprinting out. He ran after her, but not before putting his orange mask and Akatsuki cloak on. After all, he could not go chasing after her with the risk of someone seeing him.

By the time he caught up to her, she was standing in the middle of the large training room. She was holding a long katana and there was a deep frown on her face. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but nothing seemed to be coming out. It was as if her mouth was preventing her from expressing her true emotions.

Madara stared at her with a solemn gaze and said, "I am warning you Mika. I do not want to hurt you, but if you continue this I will have no choice."

Her face split into a grin and she laughed. She looked up at him and her frown came back.

"Really Madara? You don't want to hurt me? I hate it when you lie to my face," she sneered the last part.

With a burst of chakra, she charged at him. He did nothing to block her blows, but instead fazed out so that her sword went through him.

She narrowed her eyes and spat, "You damn coward! Why can't you fight me like an equal!"

The memories of every single injury he had ever dealt to her burned in her mind and fueled her anger further. Revenge was truly the only thing on her mind, but that was not necessarily the best thing. With a grimace, she understood that the only to get him to fight her was to insult his ego.

Feeling like she was signing her Death Certificate, she took a deep breath and uttered, "It's just as I thought. You're still looking down at me. Hashirama Senju would never be that disgraceful. You really are dirt compared to him."

She got into a defensive stance as she expected the former Uchiha clan leader to come rushing at her with killer intent.

Instead, he sighed and said, "I understand. You hate me for what I did to you."

Her breath hitched in her throat and part of her agreed with him, while another was saying the complete opposite.

He turned to face her and after briefly checking to make sure no one was near, he took his mask off. Mika's resolve faltered when she saw the gentle, _almost_ caring look in his eyes.

"I hurt you and I should have realized beforehand that I needed to do something about all those pent up feelings," he continued and started walking toward her.

Her sword was still up defensively, but she was too confused by what he was saying to react properly. He reached for her hand and she did nothing to stop him as he pulled the sword out of her hands and threw it down to the ground.

"I did what I had to do in order to make you always give your all during your training battles with Itachi. It was merely a strategy and I never had anything against you," he explained, but that only made the pang in her heart stronger.

"Merely a strategy? Hurting me until I couldn't even move was just a strategy to you?" she whispered and he shook his head at the agonized look she was giving him.

"I did not know you as a person. You were just a slave to me," he started anew, but she visibly flinched at the words.

He put his hands on her shoulders and she tensed up; her chakra shield and various other defensive ninja techniques were completely forgotten.

"Just listen to me, Mika. As time progressed, I started to see just how unique you were. You did as I told you, but you always kept yourself in tact. You were afraid of me, but you would never let fear get in the way of what was right," he continued and one of his hands came to rest at her cheek.

"And above all, no matter how many times I put you down or brought you harm, you always got back up."

Her anger was slowly ebbing away and it was replaced with a deep aching feeling in her heart. It was as if there was a hole there and no matter how she tried to soothe the pain, it always came back.

"I already told you I am never going to hurt you again. I never go back on my word," he reminded and she cautiously looked up into his eyes.

A lump formed in her throat as he pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry," he whispered and time seemed to stop.

Mika drew in a shuddery breath and it took her every molecule of will power not to burst into tears. Her hands reached out to wrap around his waist and she leaned her head into his chest. She let his intoxicating scent fill her lungs as she finally let go of all the pain.

"Thank you," she muttered at last and he let out a small sigh of relief.

After what seemed like an eternity, she pulled away from him and said, "I do not hate you."

He furrowed his brow and she explained, "I... I never did. I know I should, but there is just something in my heart saying that I shouldn't."

A frustrated sigh left her lips. "I'm just so confused."

Madara put his hand on her shoulder and started guiding her to the door. "Come. It's time to go to sleep."

Her head snapped to look at him so he clarified, "Just sleep. No... Interloping."

She smirked. "I knew you would warm up to that word."

...

"Hey, Madara, wake up," a female voice prodded.

The Uchiha sighed at the feeling of someone gently poking his face. He opened his eyes and saw Mika looking at him with a slightly nervous expression.

"Good morning," she said sheepishly and jumped into a standing position.

Deciding to ignore the facial probing, he said, "Good morning. Why are you up so early today?"

She wanted to tell him that it was because she wanted to get a chance to stare at him sleeping, but thought it would be awkward so instead, she simply shrugged. He threw the covers off and slinked into the bathroom, while she looked out the window and onto the never-ending slew of rain.

When he came out, she said without looking at him, "I have a proposal."

Slightly curious, he came to stand beside her and she gave him a ginger smile.

"How about we start over like we have just met. As if I just became an Akatsuki member and I accidentally saw through your Tobi alias," she said and he did not fail to notice the spark in her eyes.

"Well, if you just saw through Tobi, I have to kill you," he played along and came to stand right behind her.

His hand came to rest around her throat and he continued, "Perhaps you would like to clarify the terms on which we met."

She chuckled uneasily. "Alright. How about I was your barber when you cut your long hair and one thing led to another when suddenly, I was a member here."

"That seems a little unlikely. Why would I go to a barber?" he replied and playfully gave her throat a squeeze.

Mika gasped and retorted, "Why don't you come up with a scenario?"

"Fine," he started and then paused for a moment. "You were an Akatsuki enthusiast so you found me in the forest and after a little bit of training with my apprentice, Itachi, you became a member."

With a nod, she removed his hand from her throat and held it in her own. "That still doesn't change the fact that I think Tobi is retarded."

"Everyone thinks Tobi is retarded. Including me," he muttered and gave her hand a squeeze.

Clearing her throat, Mika straightened out, let go of him, turned around to face him and said, "Hello Mr. Uchiha. I don't believe we had any time to speak to each other previously. Do you have a minute?"

He raised an eyebrow at her formalness, but replied, "Yes, Miss Aranuki. What did you have in mind?"

She gave him another small smile. "I heard there is this really beautiful garden just outside the base. Would you like to go there?"

They both looked outside at the pouring rain and after a moment's hesitation, they both shook their heads.

"Perhaps it would be best if we stayed here."

Mika nodded in agreement and then sat down on the bed. "Mr. Uchiha what is your favorite color?"

"Red and Miss Aranuki, please just call me Madara," he replied.

She chuckled. "Mine is green. It seems were are opposites right from the start."

The Uchiha pursed his lips slightly. "For food; sweet or sour?"

"Sweet," she answered and he reluctantly continued, "I prefer sour."

They were silent for a moment before her eyes lit up and she said, "When is your birthday? Mine's in the summer."

"Mine's in the winter."

This time, it was Mika who pursed her lips. "Alright. Are you a cat or dog person?"

"Neither. I prefer falcons," he said and briefly remembered that majestic winged birds that were at his summon.

"I actually really like big cats. You know, tigers, lions etc.," she smiled before continuing, "My animal could hunt down your animal."

"How? Tiger's can't fly," he retorted smugly.

"Well, a falcon cannot just stay in flight forever. Eventually, it will have to land and that is when the tiger strikes."

He gave her a small glare. "You forget that falcons have very sharp claws and beaks. They could easily fight back and scratch the tiger's eyes out."

She scoffed. "The tiger would still win the battle."

"How about this; you be the tiger and I'll be the falcon. We'll see who wins the battle," he said with a smirk.

"You know that's not fair!"

"No one said anything about fairness."

Mika laughed and gave him a playful punch in the shoulder.

"Is that a battle challenge?" he questioned teasingly.

She threw her hands in the air dramatically before sarcastically saying, "But I wouldn't dare attack you, the mighty, powerful, undefeatable Uchiha Madara."

To make it even more of a mockery, she put her hand to her forehead and pretended to faint.

"You forgot immortal," he added and her head snapped to look at him.

"Wait a second. You're actually immortal? I thought you were just using some sort of jutsu to extend your life for a short period of time," she stated.

He nodded. "You could say it is a jutsu. However, it will never wear off. You know, it feels good to be invincible."

She chuckled and said, "For you is surely must. For the rest of us normal humans, it just makes us feel sad about our short little lives."

"Now who said you were a normal human?" he said and leaned closer to her.

Mike blushed and gave him a sheepish smile. "I'm going to take that as a compliment and not an insult, okay?"

Madara gave her the slightest hint of a smile and her breath hitched in her throat.

The smile disappeared and he furrowed his brow. "What?"

She shook her head and turned away to hide the light blush forming on her features. Never before had she even imagines Madara smiling and now that she finally saw it, she was completely awestruck.

"It's nothing. We should probably go to the kitchen," she said after a few deep breaths.

The Uchiha did not question her any further and donned his bright orange mask.

"Does Mika-chan want to know Tobi better too?" he said shrilly and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"No... Some things are better left unsaid," she muttered before rushing out the door.

"Tobi is going to follow Mika-chan around everywhere!"

"Great. Now my day is as good as ruined."

...

"Itachi! Let me in!" Mika half yelled half whispered as she pounded on the younger Uchiha's door.

He opened it and gave her a long, steady stare. She sighed in relief and ran into the room before shutting the door behind her.

Itachi was about to say something, but there was shrill screaming followed by, "Mika-chan is gone! Tobi must find Mika-chan!"

With another sigh, she rubbed her temples and prayed that Tobi would get distracted by something unimportant for a very, very long time. There was some more screaming, but it was farther away so Mika risked whispering, "Sorry for intruding. Tobi was driving me up the wall."

"He does to everyone," Itachi surprised her by saying.

She leaned on the door and twiddled her thumbs, which caused them both to go silent and wonder what to do in the awkward silence.

"So... Itachi... How are you?" she started cautiously.

Quite honestly, she doubted the stoic Uchiha would reply to her meager attempt at small talk, but she was curious to find out.

"I have been better," he replied after some consideration even continued, "How are you?"

She ran her hands through her hair. "I would be doing great, but Tobi totally ruined my day by messing up the kitchen and then yelling at me while I cleaned it."

"He's done much worse. One time, he threw out all of the food and we had to argue about who would go to get more supplies."

Mika grew a smile and continued, "So who did?"

Itachi gave her an isn't-it-obvious-stare before saying, "No one. We all had to find food by ourselves."

Chuckling she said, "I'll make sure to keep a small stash of food in my room from now on. Though, I'm sure he'll find it."

The younger Uchiha briefly recalled that she was sharing a room with the masked idiot so he sympathized, "You are braver than I thought. Most Akatsuki members would rather die than be in the same room as Tobi."

She raised her eye brows and asked, "Really? He's _that_ bad?"

"Deidara-sempai is Tobi's best friend! Let Tobi braid sempai's hair!"

The screaming made Mika flinch, while Itachi was able to remain composed.

"Never mind," she muttered, "He is that bad."

Silence filled the room once more, but it was mostly because there was more shrill screaming, the thunderous sound of an explosion and sinful curses.

The action in the other room died down so she was able to say, "Look, Itachi, I think we got off at the wrong foot."

He stared up at her; his gaze unreadable.

"You are a really wonderful person and I don't want our unfavorable past to get in the way of our present."

His body shifted around slightly and she continued, "So what do you say? Do you want to start over on fresh ground?"

Itachi stood up and looked down at her calmly. "Let bygones be bygones."

She took this as his way of agreeing and grinned.

"Then what do you think about going to train together? After all, it's better than sitting here and listening to Tobi terrorize Deidara," she said with a smile.

He gave the tiniest nod, opened the door and they walked together to the training room. Ever since that day, Mika and Itachi began to train together every day. This time, it was because they genuinely wanted to be there. The torturous past was finally behind them.

_**To be continued...!**_

There we go! Another chapter is finished. Now, it's nice and fluffy... makes me smile.

Any thoughts?


	13. The Plan

Hello! The 'Naruto' Manga has never been an overly happy one so it is to be expected that there are brutal tragedies, heartless murders and selfish desires.

_**Chapter 13- The Plan.**_

"I call it 'Operation Overlord'," Pein began during one of their routine meetings.

It had already been six months since Mika's official membership so she was quite used to sitting silently for an extended period of time while the bland form of their leader spoke to them.

"War will come in a few years, but we have to shake up their foundations beforehand for the best results," he continued and everyone seemed to perk up a bit.

Most meetings were usually about status updates in various countries and a few facts about tailed beasts, but never before had a large-scale operation been mentioned.

"Each pair of partners will be sent to a different ninja nation, where they will find and assassinate the feudal lords. That way, the ninja nations will have to find new feudal lords. That will inevitably breed hatred, confusion and possibly civil war."

A few quiet murmurs went through the room, but Pein silenced them with a dark glare.

"Also, they will have trouble trusting their new lords so when the time comes for the ninja nations to decide on important topics such as war, they might reach an impasse. Any conflict among our enemies is a good thing," Pein stated.

Some members were smiling at each other now. Murder missions were always so much fun to these people, but they were S-Ranked criminals so it was to be expected. The leader then started calling out names of various partners and saying which country they would be heading off to.

"Mika Aranuki, Tobi, you will both be going to Konoha," he said at last and Mika both cursed her bad luck and thanked the gods.

She was not exactly pleased to go to her former village, but the chance to show them just how powerful she had gotten was too tempting. It was a confidence builder, really. The others started leaving the room; some grumbling, some celebrating.

Giving Tobi a half-hearted smile, she too got up to leave. They had already packed all of their things so all they had to do was get them and be off. Somewhere at the back of her mind, Mika knew that it was Madara who made the decision as to who would go to which country. That brought a small frown to her face, but she knew that she would have to prove her loyalty to the Akatsuki one way or another.

"So, Tobi, are you excited to go on this mission?" she started.

The masked man nodded vigorously before yelling, "Tobi can't wait to see Mika-chan killing people!"

"You'll be killing too," she reminded and mentally flinched at the fact that they were talking of murder so lightheartedly.

"Nope! Tobi will just be watching because he doesn't know how to kill people properly!" he replied and she imagined the smug grin on his face.

Scoffing, she started walking a little faster so that he couldn't see her face. Whenever he saw that she was frustrated by what he was saying, he made it a habit to annoy her even more.

Suddenly, Tobi jumped in front of her and screamed, "Is Mika-chan ready to kill some people?"

Rolling her eyes, she muttered, "Yeah, yeah, stop rubbing it in."

"Great!" was Tobi's response as he grabbed her and everything started to spin.

She was about to remind him that they needed their things, but decided that if they needed anything, she could always send Tobi to teleport and get it. The spinning stopped and they were in a large tea room.

Each wall was delicately coated with a feathery lavender, intricate gold detailing lined the moulds, fragile-looking antique furniture lined the walls and the large, circular windows let majestic sunlight in to bathe the room in its purity. Everything looked so perfect that she felt a little like a dirty trespasser. Well, she was a trespasser, but she did not like feeling like a bum.

"This place is not suited for fighting," she noted as she realized that if she used even one tiny fireball, the entire building would crumble.

"They are in the garden," Madara said in his natural voice as he handed her a long sword.

She thanked him and cracked her knuckles before opening the shoji door. With a deep breath, she gathered chakra around her and then charged. The feudal lords and ladies were sitting around a small tea table and chatting idly when Mika jumped over them and stabbed the one closest to her.

The man died before he even knew what hit him. Instantly, the others started screaming and guards rushed in. Tobi sucked them all into his eye and stopped to lean against a tree and watch. This was exactly what he called amusement.

Their targets were fleeing the area, but it took Mika no effort to catch up to them. Her second victim was a woman with too much make-up, who she simply stabbed through the chest.

"You bitch! You killed my wife!" the husband yelled as he came charging at her.

He aimed a punch at her direction, but she simply stuck forward with her katana and effectively severed his arm. The man let out the loudest screech imaginable and she swiftly jumped behind him to sever the nerves in his neck. His death was instant and painless, which was mostly because Mika pitied him. Thanks to Madara's genjutsu, she knew exactly what it was like to have a limb lopped off. The last woman was already on the other side of the estate and with a quick glance in Madara's direction Mika ran after her.

"Please! I-I'm sorry if we did anything to upset you! I don't want to die!" the woman pleaded as she fell to her knees and cried.

Something in Mika's heart stirred and she realized that she was just like Madara. She had done nothing to him and yet he hurt yet and now, this woman had done nothing to Mika, but she was about to kill her.

"I do not want to kill you. Go in peace," she whispered before slicing the back of the woman's neck.

The feudal lady fell to the ground and blood poured out of the wound. With another sigh, she tore her eyes from the sight and noticed that Madara was standing right beside her.

"You did well," he stated, but it did not settle the dreadful feeling in her heart.

It was not regret, but it was more akin to sadness caused by the realization that she was now as bad as the other Akatsuki members. She was not only a criminal, and traitor, but a cold, heartless murderer as well.

"Let's get out of here," Mika said as she sheathed her katana and started walking away from the body.

He was standing in front of her in an instant and his mask was off. She was about to ask him what he was doing, but suddenly, his rough, demanding lips came crashing down on hers. The kiss was full of passion, lust and control, which overwhelmed her. All thoughts fled her mind and for just one moment, she forgot about the atrocities she had just committed.

When he pulled away, her face was flushed and she muttered, "What was that for?"

He leaned closer and his breath tickled her neck.

"It really turns me on when I see you killing people."

...

"First of all, congratulations to all of you for successfully completing your missions," Konan started.

They were in a meeting again and this time, it was to discuss the effects of their systematic murder mission.

"I can surely say that Operation Overlord was a grand triumph. All of the ninja nations are in an uproar and security has tightened up everywhere. In the small eastern ninja nations, there have been many riots and there are rumors of civil war breaking out in Rice Country."

Some of the members snickered, but Mika's face was passive of all emotion. She would not take joy in the pain of others; it was simply not like her to.

"At the same time, the wealthier ninja nations have set out teams of spies into the other countries. Everyone wants to find out who hired us. Though, there is no proof that we killed them in the first place."

Konan was right; no one had actually bore witness to the murders, and yet, the Akatsuki were being blamed simply because they were the only organization capable of pulling it off.

"Earth Country is blaming Mist Country, which in turn, is blaming Sand Country. Fire Country is trying to calm everyone down, but that is making Waterfall Country and Sound Country suspicious of Fire Country. It is a circle of hatred and no one has any answers, except for us, that is."

The blue haired ninja sat down and Pein stood up in her place.

"This is a grand victory for the Akatsuki and it is bringing us closer to our goal of world domination. If we were this successful in all of our missions, nothing would be able to stop us," he stated blankly.

"For now, we will lay low so that no one will have any leads on us. A lot of people want revenge and we do not want this to backfire. Thus, I order that we will all be staying at this base for the next two weeks."

Instantly, there were murmurs of dissent, but he silenced them by glaring at said individuals.

"Anyone wishing to leave the base has to ask me first and if anyone disobeys this rule, I will have no problems instilling a little bit of discipline into them," he threatened and the room went deathly silent.

Pein was not one to threaten often, but when he did, he really meant it.

"You are dismissed," he finished with a wave of his hand and everyone rushed out in case he was in the mood for a discipline 'demonstration'.

Mika headed for the kitchen, while Tobi took a moment to speak privately with Pein and Konan. When she got there, she let out a heavy sigh and plopped down on a seat. Her hands held her head and she took several deep breaths.

She tried to rest her eyes, but the second she closed them, the images of her victims became fresh in her mind. For the past two days, it had been like this and she was getting seriously bothered by it. Murder was supposed to be something she could get over quickly, but it just seemed to haunt her wherever she went. It was in her dreams, in her darkest thoughts and it would not let her move on.

Her bigger worry, though, was that Madara would find out about her confused feelings. If he knew, he would be ashamed of her for not being able to do as he said.

She shook her head and thoughts of Itachi came in. He had massacred his entire clan and yet, he as somehow still walking around and living. All she had done was kill a few strangers. Getting up, she clenched her fists and cracked her neck. If Itachi could do it, so could she.

...

"You're kidding, right?" Mika whispered into Tobi's ear.

"No! Tobi and the Akatsuki celebrate Christmas every year!" the masked man replied as he watched Deidara struggling to get their new tree up.

"But, you know, you're criminals... It just doesn't seem right," she muttered and flinched when the tree fell on Deidara, who cursed loudly.

"Why the hell are you all staring at me! Help me!" the blond screeched from under the greenery and reluctantly, Sasori stepped forward.

After more grumbling and swearing, the tree was up. At that moment, Pein and Konan walked in with boxes of decorations. Konan looked very excited and she quickly handed everyone some of the seasonal items before ordering them to set them up.

"Oh... _That's_ why we celebrate Christmas," Mika said as she got to work on decorating the walls with various streamers.

"Konan-chan loves Christmas!" Tobi yelled and threw sparkles all over the room.

Everyone dutifully did their part, but that was mostly because Konan had the eyes of a hawk as she watched everyone. If so much as one snowflake was out of place, they all had to fear her wrath. A few hours later, the living room had been completely transformed to look like something that a normal family house would have.

Pein hid a sigh as Konan placed a cheery Santa hat on his head.

"There, now it's perfect!" she announced with a smile.

The leader gave her a nod, while mentally reminding himself that this torture would only last for a few more days. After all, Christmas day was in a week so he was sure he could survive. The blue haired woman then pulled out a bag and extended it forward.

"I put everyone's names in this bag. You will each draw out one name and you'll have to give a present to that person. You can also give presents to other members, but you have to give your chosen member a present. I will accept no excuses. You all know the punishment for failing..." she trailed off darkly.

Mika gave Tobi a curious glance, who whispered back, "The punishment is a million paper cuts all over your body, while you're in front of everyone naked."

She paled and understood why everyone looked so tense. Then, she whispered back, "Has she done it to anyone?"

"Yes. Hidan got in trouble a few years ago," the masked man replied and she chuckled.

"Oh and one more thing. You are not allowed to tell each other who you have drawn. I _will_ know," Konan finished and one by one, everyone reached into the bag.

When it was Mika's turn, she reached in and grabbed the name at the very bottom.

'_Itachi_.'

She blinked and re-read the small piece of paper. Then, after a moment of processing, she mentally cursed. Itachi was the hardest person to ever shop for. He didn't like anything and he hated a lot of things. She crumpled the paper up and put it in her pocket.

Tobi was staring blankly at his piece of paper and from the looks of his one narrowed eye, he was not pleased with who he got. He hid the small thing and turned to face Mika.

"We have seven days to get our presents, but what do you think of going out today so we can get it over with?" she suggested with a small smile.

Procrastinating always made her feel horrible so she wanted to feel as little of it as possible. He gave her a nod and then turned to look back at Konan, who was handing everyone an ANBU mask.

"When you go outside to shop for presents, put on regular clothes and wear this mask. We are still trying to be off the radar so I want you to actually pay for anything you are buying. Getting money is your own responsibility," Konan explained and then walked out of the room.

Mika furrowed her brow at the realization that she was broke. Up until now, she had no use for money. She racked her brain for ideas as to how get some quick cash. Unfortunately, the only ideas that came to mind were to rob a bank, attacks some innocent civilians or make counterfeits. With a frown, she dismissed those odd notions and tried to think of what a normal person would do.

...Get a job.

"Actually, Tobi, how about we go shopping tomorrow. I have to get some money today," she said before rushing off to their room to change.

She did not need a lot of money, but she needed enough to buy a sufficient present.

"So, what's your plan?" Madara said as he walked into the room a few minutes later.

"Street performing! You know, do a few cool chakra tricks and get people to put money into my hat," she said plainly.

"Alright, tell me how that works out," he said as he took of his mask.

Mika saw his smirk and stuck her tongue out at him. Then, she walked out and made her way into the streets. As usual, it was raining, but she was wearing a waterproof jacket so it did not bother her.

She made her way to the center of town and that was when she realized the major flaw of her plan. All around her, there were slums, broken down houses, beggars and garbage. After all, Rain Country was very poor.

She would have slapped her forehead in annoyance, but the mask would not let her. Instead, she sighed and started wandering the streets aimlessly. After about an hour of wasting her time, her eyes lit up and started running toward city hall. It was a dumpy little place, but that was where the country's government resided.

Without any hesitation, she barged into the main office. She expected to be interrupting a meeting, but instead, there was just a drunk man with a puffy red face lying on the table. Mika paused and inched toward the man, who looked completely out of it. Still, this man was one of the head officials so she knew she had to talk to him.

Thinking quickly, she got a bucket, some cold water and poured it all over him. The man shot straight up and swore loudly.

"I have a deal for you," she started after waiting for him to rub his red eyes and glare at her.

"I don't, uh, I..." he slurred back.

"I know the location of a few whore houses. You give me a warrant to destroy them and I will give you some of the money from the scene," she offered.

He sobered up almost instantly and replied, "No one cares about whore houses. They can keep standing."

Mika narrowed her eyes, but continued, "But you want the money, don't you? Plus, it will look like the government is actually trying to help its people."

The man went silent and finally said, "Fine. I'll give you a warrant. Not that it really matters. You could have just gone in there on your own."

"No... It has to be legal," she explained.

He stumbled over to the cabinet, took out a piece of paper, sighed and it then said, "Sign here and you can go."

She did as she was told, but of course, her signature and name was a fake. Then, he simply waved her out of the room and plopped back down on the table. Mika walked out of the building and then down the street. This was her first legal job in months and she was determined to pull it off.

In the evening, she walked into the Akatsuki base with two large bags. Tobi was first to greet her and he was surprised to see her quite so happy.

"Street performing actually worked?" he asked in his normal, deep voice.

She paused and she was about to tell him that she had just spent the last five hours breaking into and destroying a whore house while also capturing the criminals, stealing their money and then giving some of it to the drunk government official.

However, that seemed like too lengthy of an explanation so she simply said, "Yeah... It was a performance, of sorts."

He did not say anything so she walked past him with a haughty smirk and to a private room where she could pack the presents.

"There, now I can sit back and relax as everyone panics over what to get each other," she snickered.

_**To be continued...!**_

There are a few details I need to clarify:

-The Akatsuki mission was called 'Operation Overlord', which is also the name of a World War II mission to liberate certain parts of Europe.

-In the Naruto Manga, there was no assassination of Feudal Lords, but I am steering away from the original plotline so in later chapters, expect some... changes.

-Yes, there is an Akatsuki Christmas. I really wrestled with myself over the idea considering the fact that up until now, things have not been overly positive and it would odd to place in some happiness now. Still, it is a good opportunity to show how various relationships between the characters have evolved.

-Finally, here is the most important point: I have the option of finishing this story in the next chapter and it will be nice and fluffy. However, I can also continue for a few chapters, but then, the ending will be cruel and Madara-like. The third option is that I put this story on a brief hiatus because school is too distracting so I don't have time to write a well-written chapter. If I put it on hiatus, there will be more chapters, but you'll have to wait for them to be up. Basically, my question is: where would you like the story to go?


	14. The Holidays

Hello! It's Christmas Eve (in the story) and...

_**Chapter 14- The Holidays**_.

Mika's eyes snapped open and she gasped for breath, but found that she could draw no precious oxygen in. There was something heavy holding her down and it was mauling her face rather forcibly. The 'thing' stopped kissing her and she sucked in a deep breath before lunging forward at the perpetrator.

"You sick pervert! I'm going to kill you!" she yelled as she used pure physical force to flip the person on top of her onto their backs.

Her assailant did not seem to like that because he gripped her with arms of steel and pressed her right against him. She hissed as he claimed her lips once more and grabbed the back of her head to stop her from pulling away. No matter how hard she struggled, he simply wouldn't budge and she was starting to panic. During the struggle, she had ended up with her back against the bed and all four of her limbs were being restrained.

"Honestly, stop fighting," a male voice growled and Mika's brain recognized the owner of the voice instantly.

"Madara? What the hell are you doing?" she replied and scolded her brain for not figuring that it was him from the start.

Obviously, the Uchiha was the only one capable of holding her down and he was also the only one interested in doing so. His lips were on her neck and she shivered. He gave her one last nip, making her jump, before saying, "Aren't you going to wish me a happy birthday?"

It took her a moment to think before she answered, "December 24th? That's when your birthday is?"

Though it was pitch black, she imagined that he was giving her a glare.

"I mean, happy birthday Madara! You're even... older," she muttered the last part. Then, she grinned, "It makes you even more of a pedophile, eh?"

He flared his nostrils and tightened his grip on her. "Do you really think that my age is going to stop me from kissing you?"

She scoffed and clarified, "What you call kissing, I call assaulting. Seriously, I was sleeping."

"Once again, do you think I care?" he replied and resumed kissing her neck.

Mika stiffened up and drew in a sharp breath.

"Wait a minute, what..." she trailed off to bite her lips to stop herself from moaning, but then continued, "What are you doing? I hope you aren't thinking that I'm going to interlope with you just because it's your birthday."

He sighed and stopped his advances. "You completely ruined the mood with that stupid word," he said in reference to her stand-in word for sex.

"What mood? The mood was completely tense because I thought I was being attacked," she defended, though, she made a mental note to say 'interlope' whenever she wanted Madara to stop trying to seduce her.

"And why didn't you tell me it was your birthday before tonight? I would have gotten you are a present," she continued.

The Uchiha smirked and said, "I did it exactly so that you wouldn't be able to get me anything. Now, you owe me and I can take whatever I want."

She gasped and contradicted, "No! That doesn't magically let you steal from me!"

"I am a criminal, after all, so I can really just take what I want without even bothering to ask your permission," he said and his voice dropped a tone.

A shiver went down her spine as he breathed down her neck before kissing it. Mika bit her lip and racked her brain for what to do. After all, they both knew that if Madara wanted to have intercourse that night, he easily could and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

However, she did not like that so she said, "Please, Madara, you know I'm not ready."

He paused for a moment and looked her right in the eyes.

His lips hovered about hers and she blurted out, "I'm sorry! I keep putting you off and I know that's not fair to you, but I'm just... Afraid."

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow at her, though, the gesture was unseen in the darkness.

"You're afraid? Of what?" he said.

She took a deep breath before she explained, "I'm afraid that if things get physical between us, you'll loose interest in me. I mean, you've been with so many women during your entire life that compared to them, I'll look like nothing special."

"I don't want to loose you," she whispered.

His gaze softened and he used one his hands to caress her cheek.

"Mika, you'll never have to be worried about something like that. You are special and I will never forget that about you," he comforted.

She gave him a weak smile and continued, "But I promise, I will tell you when I am ready."

That seemed to satisfy him so he gave her a tender kiss on the forehead and shifted to lie beside her.

"In other news, it's your birthday so you have full right to drag your victims wherever you want and make them do almost anything you want them to," she changed the topic and gave him a grin.

"Are you willingly calling yourself my victim?" he asked and she shot him a dirty look before saying, "No. I meant you can take your annoying Tobi alias to a whole new level."

He shook his head and replied, "I have no intention of letting the others find out that it is my birthday. Only Pein and Konan know."

"There, they can be your victims," she suggested.

Madara smirked. "You're just trying to distract me so that I won't make you my helpless slave for the day."

"Now, now, I never said anything about that. But yes. Just let yourself get distracted by something simple. Tobi is pretty good at that," she mocked.

"Forget about Tobi. Today is the only day where I can forget about the idiot and be myself," he said gruffly.

She was going to say something about how mental diseases cannot be forgotten, but chose not to. Instead, she offered, "So, would you like me to make you some cake?"

"Don't worry about it. I already planned everything out," he said slyly.

Mika got up off the bed and muttered, "Yeah, you had plenty of time to plan while you watched me sleep, you pedophile."

"What did you say?" he said sharply and she tensed up.

"I, uh, I said that you're a good planner," she said with a nervous chuckle.

He narrowed his eyes, but said nothing as they both got dressed.

"But before we go anywhere I need to clarify a few things. Your definition of 'birthday party' might be a little different from mine so I just need to make sure you're not going to sacrifice me to some pagan god just so that you'll live another year," she said half-serious, half-sarcastic.

The Uchiha did not seem too amused so she continued, "Moreover, how do I know you're not suddenly going to go on a massacring rampage? What I'm saying is that could you please promise that no one is going to die?"

After throwing his Akatsuki cloak on, he appeared in front of her, grabbed her by the waist and growled, "I make no promises."

Everything started to spin and they were suddenly standing on the peak of a massive, sky-scraping mountain. Mike instantly gripped Madara's arm in fear of him planning to throw her off it.

"Look," he said and used his free hand to point at a tiny dot in the sky.

She squinted and saw that the dot was getting closer. Her first thought was that it was a fire breathing dragon, but she dismissed the childish notion and tried to think of something more realistic.

"It's a falcon!" she announced in awe.

The hunting bird got even closer and that was when she started getting nervous. This was no normal falcon; it was much too large. The massive creature let out a piercing shriek and she gulped.

"Um, Madara, it's not going to try and eat us, is it?" she whispered and just in case, gathered a little bit of chakra into her hands.

"Don't be silly," he whispered back just as the elephant-sized falcon landed in front of them.

"Uchiha Madara. What brings you to my land?" the bird surprised her by saying a in a wise, yet deadly tone.

"I require to borrow one of your falcons for a personal matter. Your younger brother would do fine," the Uchiha stated as if he was merely talking to an old comrade instead of a bird with a beak the size of his head.

"As long as you do not cause any humans harm with his aid, it is fine. I do not want your kind blaming us for something you did," the falcon warned.

Madara nodded and the falcon reared his head into the air before letting out another high-pitched shriek. Mika barely had enough time to cover her ears and just seconds later, another slightly smaller falcon was speeding toward them.

It landed beside the first falcon and said, "Brother? You called?"

Then, it turned to look at them and laughed, "Oh. Madara's back! And he has a female friend!"

The older brother let out something akin to a sigh and said, "Be more serious. You have your job and do it well."

With one effortless lurch, the larger falcon was in the air and already soaring through the clouds. She watched with wide eyes as the majestic creature flew away. When she turned back, Madara was already getting onto the younger falcon. He gestured for her to follow suit and she swallowed her fears before climbing on and gripping the Uchiha's waist. After all, he wouldn't go through all the trouble to make her an Akatsuki member before suddenly throwing her off a falcon and to her death, right?

...Right.

"Go straight up. It's a clear day so the view should be perfect," Madara said and the falcon extended his massive wings before jumping up.

It took Mika every inch of will power not to scream as they were suddenly hundreds of feet above the ground. She was not afraid of heights, but fear of falling down and being turned into a puddle of goop on ground impact did terrify her. As they climbed higher and higher, her ears began to pop and breathing became just a little more difficult. After a good twenty minutes of flying straight up, the falcon stopped to hover in the air and give them a 360 degree view.

"Wow," she breathed as the vast expanse of the ninja world opened up.

Behind them was Sand Country, which was where they had come from. To their right was the dark blue sea that was littered with many various little islands; some inhabited, some not. Green fields dominated the area to their left, but the farther north they looked, the whiter everything became. It was the middle of winter so the northern mountains were coated in a shimmer of white.

What really interested her, though, was the sky-high mountain range that extended past Earth Country. The entire region was completely unmapped and only a handful of brave explorers knew what kind of secrets were hidden there. That really might have been the greatest mystery of the ninja world.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Madara asked and gave her a hidden smile.

"I have never seen anything like this before. Thank you," she replied and gave him a wide grin.

"Excellent. Now falcon, dive," he ordered and her heart skipped a beat.

The bird's wings tilted back and he went head first into the clouds below them. Mika wanted to scream, but she was just so shocked that all she could do was grip Madara like her life depended on it.

And it did.

She knew that there was absolutely no chance for her to survive if she fell now. Suddenly, she felt the wind beneath her legs and she looked down to find that Madara had pushed off the falcon's back and they were now falling through the air. Her eyes widened even further when the Uchiha pried off her grip on him and let them both fall individually.

All rational thoughts fled her mind and for a brief moment, she started flapping her hands in the air to try and slow her hands down. Madara was right beside her and she was rather shocked to hear him laughing.

It was a deep, melodic sound that made her want to smile, but at the moment, all she could do was yell, "You're laughing! We're about to die!"

She reached for him and continued screaming, "Teleport! Teleport now!"

That made him chuckle even more and he grabbed her by the waist before turning them both upside-down so that they were now plummeting down head first. Mika gasped and clutched him even harder as she racked her brain for any ideas, last prayers, or promises she would make to God if he let her live through this.

Suddenly, she just felt an overwhelming sense of calm. After all, she was safely in Madara's arms and even if they were about to die, there was nothing that could be done. She looked out onto the quickly nearly ground and gave him a smile.

"Thank you for letting me get to know you, Madara," she said just as the falcon from before appeared below them and they impacted full-force with the creature. Mika instantly let go of the Uchiha and clung to the bird's feathers with all of her might.

"I'm alive! Yes!" she screamed as pure adrenaline coursed though her veins.

"Ah! Ouch! Ouch! Stop pulling!" the falcon screeched and she hastily apologized before shifting into a position where she could wrap her arms around the falcon's neck. Madara settled down behind her and he held onto her waist.

Then, he leaned a little closer and asked, "Why were you thanking me?"

She chuckled quietly before replying, "In case death was close, I wanted to show my appreciation for you letting me into your life."

His grip tightened. "I will never let you die."

The idea that he cared brought a smile to her face. They continued soaring through the sky and it really did put the 'happy' in Madara's happy birthday.

...

Mika groaned and climbed under the bed sheets.

"It's over, it's finally over!" she announced and didn't even bother changing into her pajamas as she begged sleep to take over her.

"Honestly, I thought I was exhausted after your birthday, but this, _this_ was absolutely horrible," she continued and Madara sat down on the bed beside her.

"I'm not even kidding. Sure, I thought I was going to die on your birthday, but today, I was considering suicide."

He chuckled and said, "Lighten up. It's Christmas day and what sort of holiday doesn't have a violent paper cutting ceremony?"

She sighed. "At first it was nice with the family style Christmas breakfast, but when everyone started opening their presents, it all went to hell."

Sitting back up, she continued, "Before I erase it from my memory, could we go over who gave who what? After the violence started, I was rather confused."

Madara, who himself had not seen all of the exchanges, also decided to try and decipher the puzzle. "You gave Itachi a set of silver swords, Itachi gave Sasori a tool kit, and then it got violent."

"Yes, Sasori got Deidara a shirt saying 'Art it eternal' and they got into a very physical fight. During that, Pein found his present from Deidara, which was an exploding Konan-shaped doll," Mika continued and then broke into a fit of giggles.

"The look on his face was priceless when it blew up!" she said in between laughs.

He chuckled and continued, "So he attacked Deidara, who was still fighting off Sasori and in their struggle, they knocked over the tree. At the same time, I tried to save the presents and I found my present from Pein."

"Oh yeah, your giant lollipop suited you perfectly. So what did you get Kisame? I was too busy trying to hold Sasori back from stabbing Deidara in the face to notice," she said as if it was a normal thing to do on Christmas.

"I got him a picture frame with a photo shopped picture of him and Itachi smiling together," he replied and she smiled.

"That's sweet. Did he like it?"

Madara scoffed. "No. He thought I was implying that he and Itachi were gay so he started chasing me."

"He got me my present," she muttered with a shudder.

"Oh. Do tell," he mocked even thought he had already seen the monstrosity from the corner of his eye.

"It was a note that said 'If you wanna party with the big fishes, feel free to come into my room anytime'. How is that even slightly appropriate? It's Christmas for goodness sakes!" she ranted and crossed her arms.

They paused and did their best to remember what had happened after that. "By then, Sasori, Deidara and Pein had settled down so I was able to see that Zetsu gave Hidan a large cleaver."

"He also told Hidan that he should cut off one of his limbs and give it to him, but luckily, Hidan was not too offended by it," Madara said with a shrug.

"Then Hidan gave Kakuzu a large roll of money, which later turned out to be fake so they were yelling at each other in the kitchen," Mika picked up where he left off.

"After that, I gave Konan the present Kakuzu got her. It was a ripped Christmas card... Wasn't that when it got all violent again?" she continued.

"Yes. Konan was so angry that she ran into the kitchen and started cutting both Hidan and Kakuzu with her paper. Kakuzu ran out, but Hidan decided that the perfect time for a self-sacrifice was right then and there," Madara shook his head.

Mika shuddered. "There was blood everywhere and I had to spend the next three hours wiping blood off and making everything sanitary. Didn't Konan attack Hidan even more when he got his blood in her hair?"

"Oh yes, and I don't think that helped your cleaning efforts at all," Madara mocked.

"Of course it didn't! They splattered even more blood everywhere! Plus, the noise of all the screaming, fighting and bickering was so loud I could barely hear myself think," she sighed.

"And then, finally, Zetsu opened his present from Konan and saw that it was a large lump of raw meat. I think Zetsu was the only one that was really happy with his present," Madara finished the explanation.

"There. Now that the mystery has been solved, I can erase it all from my memory and have a nice, peaceful sleep," Mika said with a soft smile.

She was about to tuck herself in, but then she remembered something and shot out of the bed and into the closet.

He watched her with mild curiosity and she said, "I got you a present too. It only seems fair considering I couldn't get you anything for your birthday."

A moment later, she pulled out a neatly wrapped box with a fancy bow on it.

She handed it to him and he took off his mask before carefully peeling off the packaging.

There was a moment of silence before he said, "You got me another mask?"

Nodding, she explained, "Yes. The bright orange was driving me nuts. I think that this lovely shade of hot pink really matches you. The little hearts on the side give it that extra touch, don't you think?"

He took the _girly_ object out of the box and inspected it. The mask was his size, but the color was absolutely hideous.

"Well, are you going to try it on?" she said, but he could tell that there was that half mocking half vengeful undertone to it.

Madara sighed and put it back in the box. "Alright, I get it. Tobi is annoying but I am not going to put that on. Orange was painful for me, but _pink_ is just too much."

She laughed and closed the box. "Sure, sure, but this one of those for-future-reference presents. If you ever scream into my ear in that high pitch again, I will get this mask and make you wear in it front of everyone."

Then, she put it on a shelf in the closet and gave him a toothy grin.

He shook his head, and then said, "I got you something too."

Her eyes seemed to light up, but then she narrowed them and said, "How do I know you're not going to give me a wedgie or some other childish prank?"

His lips pulled up into a smile. "You don't."

Suddenly, he pushed her against the wall and pressed himself toward her.

Mika was absolutely taken back by the degree of passion in the kiss that he gave her. It was unlike anything ever before and it made her heart beat faster.

"Merry Christmas."

_**To be continued...!**_

At last! Christmas is over! It really is such a violent affair with the Akatsuki's. This chapter was really a way to show Madara's soft side, though, there is a much, much darker side that has yet to rear its ugly head...

Now for the important part: First of all, thank you to everyone who voted in whether to have a hiatus, happy end or sadistic end. To make things more interesting, I won't say what type of end there will be, but I don't want to you think that just because this chapter was all fluffy that the ending will be just as nice. With Madara, it could honestly go either way. I was quite surprised by how many people messaged me and suggested I take a brief hiatus in exchange for lengthening the story. Thus, it is my duty to inform you that there will not be an update next week. I have decided to take a brief hiatus. (Mostly because of Kishomoto's major twist involving Madara/Tobi.) Please be patient~!

Any thoughts?


	15. The Forewarning

Hello! The hiatus is over so prepare for major plot twists! There is a time skip and it is now during the Naruto Shippuden times. My timeline is a bit wonky, but I'll pretend that everything is fine. Though it may not be accurate, let's say that it's been 7 years since the massacre and the Konoha kids are all grown up. Sasuke is currently training under Orochimaru and Itachi is still alive. As for the Akatsuki, they have yet to start capturing bijuu.

_**Chapter 15- The Forewarning.**_

Perched high in a tree, Aranuki Mika smothered her chakra and let her sharp, calculating eyes scan the land. Her target was supposed to come through the area in due time and she was determined to make their first meeting in seven years a complete surprise. Of course, both she and Madara had kept their eyes on the teenage target for many years, but the elder Uchiha had no idea about her keen interest.

A small smile graced her features as she let the flow of adrenaline of what she was about to do overtake her. She knew that if she wasn't careful, she would be at serious risk. However, she had a mission and nothing would stop her from fulfilling it.

There was a rustle and suddenly, a poison dipped kunai shot at her. Mika jumped up and countered with a shuriken of her own. A few more weapons flew out from the foliage so she jumped down and drew her sword.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" she said as her eyes darted around and searched for the dark, powerful chakra that she associated with her target.

"You have a lot to explain," a voice responded and she calmly looked over her shoulder before sheathing her weapon. The owner of the voice narrowed his eyes and within a second, he unleashed a massive fireball in her direction. She did not move, but rather, put up her chakra shield and waited for the wall of fire to dissipate.

"I am not your enemy, Uchiha Sasuke," she replied in a tone of warning. He glared at her and she could see the will for revenge blanketing his eyes in a shade of heartless cruelty. In a way, it reminded her of Madara.

"You are Akatsuki. You know where Itachi is and you will not leave until you tell me where that bastard is," the younger Uchiha hissed and took a threatening step toward her.

Staring him right in the eyes, she replied, "He is not your enemy either."

Clearly, he did not take kindly to her comment because he charged at her with his Sharingan activated. Prepared for this, she took out a scroll and opened it right in his face. There was a grunt and all of a sudden, he found himself bound by a set of hundreds of chains. They were so heavy that he could barely move, but he was by no means subdued.

"Listen to me, Sasuke," she said and crouched in front of him. "I need you to remember the first day you saw me. I was running away from Konoha. Can you tell me why I was doing this?"

He frowned and spat, "You killed one of the elders. What does that have to do with me?"

"Everything. Now think, why would I do something like that? I know you researched everything about me and you know that I was a loyal Konoha ninja before I disappeared on a mission. You also know that I was still loyal when I returned to talk to the Hokage. Why would I suddenly turn and kill a fellow comrade?" she prodded. She could just tell him the truth, but she wanted him to figure it out for himself.

"The elders told you something. Look, bitch, I don't care. All I care about is killing Itachi and you are just a tool for me to get to him," he sneered, but it only made her smile.

Standing up, she whispered, "You've grown so much. Not just in strength, but in intellect as well. Prove me right and learn the truth. The elders know things that the rest of the ninja world does not. It is about time you found out for yourself just what sort of secrets they are hiding."

He opened his mouth to speak, but she did a few hand seals and with a swirl of the wind, she was gone. Sasuke closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes. Chakra flared around him and instantly, the chains flew away from him. Looking in the direction of Orochimaru's hideout, he frowned and turned away. The snake could wait, but the truth could not.

...

"Tobi is so excited! Deidara-sempai and Mika-chan get to come with Tobi on his mission," the masked man cheered, whereas, the blond bomb expert rubbed his temples.

"We are doomed, un," Deidara groaned and Mika patted him on the back sympathetically.

"It's alright. The sooner we complete this mission, the sooner you can go get electroshock to erase your memory," she said, which earned her a glare from the elder Uchiha.

"Tobi can't wait to see the giant turtle! Tobi likes turtles and hopes that the turtle is orange. Maybe Tobi can talk to the turtle!" he chattered as he wrapped his arms around both of them and pulled them extra close. Deidara was about to smack Tobi over the head, but everything started to spin and suddenly, they were beside a large lake.

"Tobi is a good boy because he-" "Sh! The turtle bijuu has very sensitive hearing!" Deidara yelled to shut his partner up. Mika sighed and pointed to the lake, where there was a bubbling noise and the water started to ripple.

"Didn't leader say that the turtle was very protective of its territory?" she whispered as a colossal head emerged from the water to glare at them.

"Tobi is going to say hello!" he announced and both partners reached out to stop him, but he was already sitting on the creature's head. The turtle didn't look too happy about that and let out the most piercing shriek that she could imagine. Besides, she didn't know turtles could be quite so loud. There was a ground-shaking growl and the turtle jumped out of the water to throw its head up. Tobi shot up like a rocket and for a second, they stared in awe at the height he was gaining. The turtle turned its head toward them and the monstrosity was charging toward them mere seconds later. Deidara threw a lump of clay and exploded it in the creature's face but it had thick skin so it was unfazed.

At that point, Mika was high above and she jumped right over the turtle's head as she let a fireball fly forth from her mouth. The turtle thrashed and smoke obscured its view, which let Deidara get close enough to try another attack. However, he failed to take into account that the turtle was shaking its head madly and was whacked to the side. Because of the smoke, he had not seen it. She jumped down and caught the blond, but he was unconscious.

By then, Tobi had descended from his flight and after seeing that his male partner was not present, he let his chakra come forth. Mika ran to the elder Uchiha's side, but he gestured for her to stay back. Obeying, she understood that this was a rare opportunity where Madara could let loose and fight with his true strength.

The turtle reared its head and let out another monstrous growl. Not wasting any time, they charged at each other and Mika dragged Deidara away so that he would not be caught in the fray. Sitting on a high, safe perch, she sat and watched as Madara lured the turtle fully out on land.

Suddenly, a massive spray of blood shot out of the turtle, along with the most pained cry she had every heard in her life. With wide eyes, she noted that the entire left back leg of the creature was lying on the ground. The ground shook as the turtle crashed down and even from her far away perspective, she could see the pool of rich, dark liquid gushing around.

She pursed her lips and felt a little sorry for the creature. Knowing that it was now weakened, she waited for Madara to seal it and put it outs of its misery. However, when she heard another exclamation of pain from the turtle, she realized that he was not done with it yet. A large, burning, fleshy gash was all that left of the turtle's right eye and her heart ached at the cruelty before her. Surely he would stop now?

Her heart was racing as she looked for the elder Uchiha, but she could not see him. Part of her hoped that he was on the ground or behind the turtle to do the sealing jutsu, but the other part of her knew that once he began torturing something, he would not stop until the end. A flash of sadness passed through her eyes as she sourly noted that she knew this from experience.

The poor bijuu was whimpering and she wanted to look away, but she knew she had to remain observant. That was certainly one lesson she had learned well during her last seven years in the Akatsuki. A nice, white scar on her hip was proof of that. Images of her solo mission to Earth country six years ago danced before her eyes and she still winced every time she remembered that she had turned around after she had cut off the legs of a guard. He had not been completely defenseless and the injury resulted from him throwing a knife at her.

Shaking her head, she tuned back to the scene in front of her. A look of horror made her heart nearly stop when she saw what Madara had managed to do in the short time she had been reminiscing. The turtle was now on its back and somehow, he managed to peel away the entire bottom half of the shell, which was now lying discarded beside the agonized creature. There was a glint and suddenly, a deep, maroon red slice was circling the stomach area of the turtle. He used some sort of jutsu to peel away the skin and more screeches of pain were heard.

Realizing what he was going to do, Mika jumped up and lunged toward Madara. She arrived just as he was about to stab through the creature's large intestine. Reaching out to him, she was about to tell him to stop, but he looked up at her and time stopped. The one eyed glare that he gave her was so filled with sinister, menacing rage that the breath stopped in her throat. Her mind flashed back to seven years ago and when he head tortured her in his Sharingan. It was the exact same look. For the first time in years, she remembered that cold, sticky fear that he used to give her.

A second later, the look was gone and all she could see was forced calmness. She approached him and after a second of recomposing herself, she said, "I think you've done enough."

Oozing from the various wounds of the creature was blood and it pooled at her feet. In the background, she could still hear the tortured whimpering that she knew would give her terrible nightmares.

"I will decide when I am finished," he replied coolly and her courage surged back.

"This was completely unnecessary! You could have sealed the bijuu after the first injury you gave it. This poor creature has done nothing to you!" she objected and reached for the sealing scroll on his back. He narrowed his eyes, but handed her the scroll and let her finish.

Five minutes later, she was done and they were walking toward Deidara so they could teleport back to the Akatsuki base. Not a single noise stirred in the forest and it was as if all of the living creatures had fled upon realizing that such a cold-blooded murderer was among them. They were a few yards away from Deidara when he grabbed her by the arm and forced her to look at him.

"You seem to be forgetting that I am a villain. Just because I treat you nicely does not mean that I will give others the same luxury. Next time before you go trying to stop me, think about that," he warned and for one second, she swore it was a threat.

He let go of her and went to pick up the still unconscious form of Deidara. Then, as he wrapped his arm around her waist to teleport away, he whispered, "War is approaching. You should know that no one is safe from my wrath."

...

Days passed since the incident and things seemed to be going normally. Deidara was complaining about how he hadn't gotten a chance to get the turtle bijuu back, Tobi was as irritating as ever and Itachi was still Mika's faithful training partner. The other Akatsuki members successfully captured the first to third bijuu, which meant they only had to get the fifth to ninth.

The only thing that had changed, though, was that Madara was now much less present. He was always going on missions, holding meetings or spying in various people in the ninja world. She did not particularly mind, since it gave her more time to train and go for walks. Over the years, she had taken a liking to exploring and with plentiful teleportation scrolls in the Akatsuki storeroom, going places was not an issue.

That afternoon, she was playing checkers with Zetsu when all of a sudden, Kisame ran into the room with an urgent look on his face. Seeing as Kisame was usually calm, everyone turned their attention to the half-shark.

Clearing his throat, he began, "I just got news from a spy in Konoha. Uchiha Sasuke was spotted running away from the city and it was later found out that he killed all of the elders. By all, I mean every single one. It was a massacre."

There was a pause as people connected the dots.

"Sasuke was after Itachi. Why would he do this?" Sasori stated blankly.

"Someone must have told him something to make him change his target, un," Deidara commented.

Itachi shook his head. "We don't know if he's changed his target. He might still want to kill me."

Mika stayed out of the conversation and watched as the other Akatsuki members speculated on Sasuke's sudden change of behavior. In one way or another, they all knew about the younger Uchiha and his vendetta against Itachi. She tried to hide her optimism as she hoped that Sasuke now knew about who really killed his clan. Looking over to Itachi, she felt a brotherly affection stir in her heart. No matter what, she wanted to make sure that he would live and not be a victim of the corruption of the world.

Minutes ticked by and eventually, the rumors died down. Some members left to get a bite to eat, while others went to deal with their own personal issues. Mika yawned and decided it was a good time for a nap so she stretched and began making her away to her room.

For a good half an hour, she was snoozing away, when suddenly, the slamming of a door awoke her. Rubbing her eyes, she was a little surprised to find Madara pacing in front of her. His mask was lying unattended on the floor and his hands were fisted in his hair. He noticed she was awake and said, "Sasuke knows about the Uchiha massacre and he killed the elders."

She moved to sit on the edge of the bed before replying, "Kisame told us. Everyone was pretty shocked."

The elder Uchiha continued to pace with a serious expression on his face. Mika could see that the gears were turning in his head and it was as if he was trying to put a puzzle together using just his mind.

"Why are you so upset? Wasn't it your plan to make him hate Konoha? Besides, didn't you say that you planned for him to kill the elders sooner or later?" she tried to clam him down as she put a hand on his shoulder. He stopped and sighed, his hands dropping to his sides.

"It's a shame," he started in a grave tone. "I've gone through the list of everyone who knew about the massacre and I know that they would not say a word."

He paused and her heart skipped a beat as he said, "Except for you."

She opened her mouth to defend herself when all of a sudden, she found herself pressed up against the wall. His hand was at her throat, but he was not applying pressure. He was just holding her, daring her to speak.

"I did not tell him about the massacre," she stated and it was true. All she had told Sasuke was that he should ask the elders a few questions.

Narrow and seething, his eyes met hers and he said, "Of course you would not even think about telling him, but you could have easily implied for him to go check things out for himself."

"Why would I do that?" she challenged.

"Because you are a weak, pathetic woman! You want to save your friend Itachi, but I should have told you it would be useless. He is sick and dying- no matter if Sasuke kills him or not," he spat.

With a frown she retorted, "I knew he was sick. I trained with him every day for the last seven years. I noticed something was wrong and I know he is loosing his sight."

"So you're not denying it?" he growled and she felt his grip on her neck increase ever-so-slightly.

Pursing her lips, she hissed, "Fine! I was the one who told him to go talk to the elders. I told him nothing about the massacre! Why the hell are you so upset? Itachi is an Uchiha- your own kin. You should be happy he could live!"

"In my plan he is not meant to live!" Madara roared and from the corner of her eye, she could see his fist clenched and ready to strike her. Closing her eyes, she waited for the painful strike, but instead all she felt was the wall shake and she heard the sound on his chakra-filled fist collide with the inanimate object. His grip on her relinquished and with a swooshing noise, he was gone.

As she stared at the impact crater beside her head, she realized that Madara was right; not even she was safe from his fury in these war-impending times.

_**To be continued...!**_

There was certainly a ton of foreshadowing in this chapter and the tension is slowly building up. I feel rather bad for being to cruel to the turtle bijuu, but it should have been expected considering that Madara is such a psychopath. Thank you to all those who waited patiently for my hiatus to end!


	16. The Rebellion

Hello! I am so thankful for your continuous support!

_**Jestie Uchiha**_: Agreed- I would not feel safe around Madara either. War is making him a little... nutty.

_**Yuti-Chan**_: I'm also glad the hiatus is over! It feels so good to be continuing the adventure of Aranuki Mika.

_**ScrewedUpAkatsuki128**_ and _**Soft Ink**_: Thank you~ I'm glad you liked it.

_**Little Miss. Cloud**_: Um, I feel a little bad for making you hate Madara in the beginning of the story. But it's who he is- evil sadistic asshole- and that's why so many people adore him.

****: Yes- haha- cliffhanger! I love and hate those at the same time. And yes, Gaara is alive because I didn't change that part of the plot. Chiyo still sacrifices herself and the young kazekage lives!

_**Joanna Davis**_: Turtle! I personally am a fan of turtles~ As for Madara, yes, he doesn't deserve Mika. (I was amused by your use of 'ain't' and 'biatch', by the way.)

_**Raixan**_: I love angry Madara too. He's very exciting and unpredictable- even though he's evil.

_**Chapter 16- The Rebellion.**_

Mika winced when she heard the sound of pained coughing. No matter how much she hated it, this was a noise she was accustomed to hearing from Itachi. He honestly tried to hide it, but as his disease worsened, each Akatsuki member slowly came to realize the unfortunate Uchiha's misery.

It was a little past midnight so she tiptoed past her friend's room before heading into the large cavern that held the bijuu sealing statue. With a sigh, she leaned against the massive wooden creation and let the silence cloak her with a veil of darkness.

Madara had been gone for the last week and she had only seen a glimpse of him. He was clearly still upset with her for messing up his plan, but she had no regrets. Ever since she had found out that it was Madara's plan to make Sasuke kill Itachi, she had been plotting to prevent it. Now her only issue was how to deal with the younger Uchiha's sickness.

She was so wrapped up in her musings that she didn't notice as a figure crept into the cavern. There was a flurry of movement and the next thing she knew, she was flat on her back with someone on top of her. From the chakra, she could tell that it was an Uchiha so she assumed it was Madara and said, "How did your mission go?"

"I killed all of them," was the reply and instantly, she recognized that it was not her partner, but rather, it was Sasuke. Immediately, she gathered chakra into her hands and punched upward. The younger Uchiha moved back and she jumped back on her feet into a defensive position.

"How did you get here?" she demanded with narrowed eyes. It was so dark that she could barely see his silhouette and she was definitely at a disadvantage. With his Sharingan he could easily see all of her movements, but she had to stay strong in order to protect Itachi.

"You were pretty sloppy. After you left me, you didn't bother to hide your chakra and I followed you to the Akatsuki base before I went back to Konoha," he explained with an arrogant undertone.

"Do you still want to kill Itachi?" she whispered fearfully as she could see her plan threatening to come tumbling down. Suddenly, she felt a hand at her throat and two murderously dangerous blood red eyes glared into her own.

"Enough questions. I am the one in charge here and you will tell me exactly what I want or I will slaughter both you and Itachi," he growled and with a solemn frown, she noted how his words sounded exactly like something Madara would say.

"How do you, a lowly ninja, know about something as important as the Uchiha massacre?" he sneered, displeasure laced in his tone.

"It's complicated," she replied, which earned her a slap in the face. Biting her tongue, she resisted the urge to insult him for being so stubborn.

"If you were to find out, your life would be as good as over. If you knew just who was orchestrating every single event in your life, you would go mad with rage and then you would be ripped to shreds a million times if you tried to get revenge. This is far bigger than you, Uchiha Sasuke. The entire ninja world is being played like a puppet!" she yelled and at the same time, hundreds of imaged flashed inside her head.

There was the Akatsuki library, which stored enough secret information to cripple the governments of all of the ninja nations many times over. The countless spies she had associated with were also a part of the flashbacks and she knew that the ones she dealt with were only a small minority. In every county, they had spies that ranged from ordinary civilians to the advisers of the Kages themselves. The forbidden jutsu scrolls, the sealed bijuu and the colossal Zetsu army were vividly at the forefront of her mind and for a second, she felt completely dwarfed by the magnitude of the Akatsuki organization. They really did have enough power and resources to take over the world.

Sasuke wrinkled his nose and threw her to the ground. She was deep inside her head and if he hadn't felt a familiar chakra by the entrance to the cavern, he would have easily ended her life.

"Brother."

The two Uchiha siblings stood unblinkingly as they let the surprise of the moment really soak in. Mika snapped back into reality and watched the exchange with wide eyes. Still, she dared not interfere because this was their moment. She only decided to act if things were to get violent.

"Sasuke, have you come to kill me?" Itachi asked bluntly. The sibling in question took a single step forward, but then dashed forward with full speed. Itachi did nothing as his most precious relative stopped right in front of him and stared him directly in the eyes.

There was a pause before Sasuke raised his fist and it erupted in an impressive burst of lightning. He just held it there, debating whether to hurt the one person he loved in the world or not. Sasuke's shoulders started to shake and with an understanding sigh, Itachi pulled him into a hug. The lightning faded away and all she could see was the outline of the reunited brothers.

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Itachi whispered as the teen tried to hold his shattered emotions together. After having spent so many years hating his big brother, Sasuke was at a complete loss of what to do now that things were completely reversed.

"Why did you do it? You could have refused to follow your orders," Sasuke said in a dejected tone.

"To keep the world at peace. If the Uchiha were to up rise, the entire ninja world would be ripped into shreds," Itachi explained and let go of his younger brother to look him right in the eyes.

Anger boiled up in the teen and he shoved his sibling to the side before yelling, "There is still going to be a war! Don't you see? You are part of an organization designed to start the next ninja war!"

Mika ran over to them and after getting an approving nod from Itachi, said, "That is where things get complicated again. I'm sorry I have to interrupt your reunion, but we don't exactly have a lot of time. I need your utmost loyalty and discretion. Do you promise to say nothing of our encounter to anyone?"

"Yes," said Itachi, but Sasuke was a bit more skeptical.

"Why should I believe you? You're Akatsuki!" he spat.

"You're right. You have no reason to believe me, but think of what I have done for you so far. I helped you find the truth and if you give me some time, I can give you peace as well," she persuaded confidently.

He didn't say anything so she took a deep breath and continued, "I'll be brief. There is a powerful person in charge of the Akatsuki organization and if we can take him down, we will be able to prevent the war. I cannot tell you his name, but I assure you this is no lie. He is the one who created the Akatsuki and he is the one who is putting all of the plans into action. Itachi and I are under constant surveillance so we need you, Sasuke."

"A major part of his plot is an army he has hidden underground in another Akatsuki base. If you can destroy it, the war will be unable to begin for a couple of years, which will give us more time to destroy the organization. The base is at the foot of the Sacred Mountain in Earth Country, which is why it has remained undiscovered for such a long time. No one dares to go there because it is apparently guarded by the gods."

"I need you to get there and use a fire jutsu to set the army on fire. Right now, they are all connected by a giant root system and if you set it on fire, they will all burn. Good luck. We're counting on you."

After giving Itachi one last skeptical glance, Sasuke did a few hand seals and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Mika breathed out a sigh of relief and ran a hand through her hair. Everything was happening so fast that she barely had enough time to get her thoughts together. Itachi was giving her an odd look so she raised an eyebrow at him.

"You've been planning this for a long time, haven't you? But you do realize the penalty if the plan fails?" he asked in monotone.

"Then you better hope that the plan works. Now for your part, I need you to pick up a delivery for me," she started anew.

He didn't object so she explained, "I have a contact in Snow Country. He has agreed to meet me at the westernmost point of the country's border and give me a report on a new neurotoxin he developed. It will be useful so I need you to take money, which is hidden in the top shelf of Orochimaru's old room and give it to him. I used a fake name so say that Tsuki sent you and give him the money. Then, hide the package in this location."

She then pulled out a note with an address on it and slipped it into Itachi's hand.

"What will you be doing in the meanwhile?" he asked.

"I have a meeting with a few contacts. We think we may have discovered a scroll with the ability to seal the chakra of anyone who opens it," she answered and they exchanged nods before going their separate ways.

Long after they were gone, a tall, shadowy figure walked out from behind of the bijuu sealing statue. His crimson eyes were narrowed as he tried to contain his unbearable rage. They _would_ pay.

...

Mika gasped when she saw Madara laying on their bed a couple of days later. His mask was not on his face and for the first time in weeks, he didn't look preoccupied. He gave her a sly smile and gestured for her to sit down on the bed.

"You're finally back from your mission?" she asked and gave him a cheerful grin. She truly was happy to see him. Even though she was plotting to bring him down, her heart still ached to be with him.

"Yes, now I get to stay at the base for the next week or so. I missed you," he ended and moved himself into a position in order to be able to give her a chaste kiss on the lips. Smiling, she wrapped her arms around him and they enjoyed each other's company.

"I missed you too," she whispered and he pulled her closer to lay on his stomach. They fell silent until she cleared her throat and said, "I'm sorry I told Sasuke about the elders. Itachi is like a brother to me and I would never want to lose him."

He gently kissed her on the forehead and replied, "I understand. You acted to save someone you cared about."

"Thank you," she whispered and closed her eyes.

"Did anything eventful happen while I was gone?" he asked and she could feel his chest rising with every breath he took.

After a brief moment of consideration, she said, "Orochimaru sent us a lovely letter saying that because of us, Sasuke has gone mad. It was quite entertaining. It's hanging on the fridge if you would like to read it."

Chuckling, she continued, "The way he starts the letter is hilarious- 'You stole my body!' How creepy does that sound?"

Madara patted her head as she continued to talk about the contents of the snake-man's letter, which had been cause of great amusement for all of the Akatsuki members. They even debated writing back.

"How about you, did anything interesting happen?" she asked with a smile still present on her face.

"One of my contacts turned out to be a double agent so I followed him and killed all of his allies," the elder Uchiha stated blankly. Pursing her lips, Mika decided that maybe next time, she shouldn't ask.

...

"Alright, let's begin. As a reminder, we will not disclose any of our names. Report what you have found by order of seating," Mika stated as she sat at the head of a long table. She and a group of twenty or so other anti-war enthusiasts were currently deep in an underground base located at the heart of Lightning Country.

One of the members stood, bowed and said, "I was successful in contacting your spy in Waterfall Country. The movement of weapons you predicted occurred and we were able to follow them to their location. As instructed, we await further orders before confiscating them for ourselves."

After getting a nod from Mika, the member sat down and another stood in his place. "We weren't as successful in examining the scrolls. They turned out to be useless after the first opening, which unfortunately took the lives of three of my men."

There was a moment of silence before Mika whispered, "I am sorry for your loss and I thank you for your devotion."

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Itachi watched the meeting from the very back of the room. Mika had invited them to show up to see the scale of her secret conspiracy. It was also as a safeguard for the future. The hours ticked by and when everyone was done, she invited the two Uchiha siblings to come forward.

"Remember these two men. If anything happens to me, I am putting them in charge of this organization," she said and squeezed Itachi's hand.

There was a sound of someone spitting on the floor and suddenly, one of her suppliers from Sound Country quickly stood up. His chair slammed against the ground and he yelled, "Who the hell gave you the right to make such a decision? If you die we should be able to choose our own leader!"

She narrowed her eyes and instantly, she was standing in front of the man. He was towering over her, but with a swift kick between the legs, she was the one looking down on him. Grabbing him by the neck, she smashed his head against the desk and leaned in to whisperer into his ear, "I am the one in charge here and if you ever question my authority again, I will make sure you will no longer have a tongue to object with."

Disgusted, she let go of him and spoke to the rest of them, "We are not a violent organization, but I will tolerate no dissent among my members. In order to take down the enemy, we have to stay together. Understood?"

There were murmurs of agreement so she smiled and said, "Then the meeting is adjourned. Be quick and safe. You will be contacted if anything arises and you will receive your next orders within the week."

As people filed out of the room, Sasuke and Itachi exchanged glances. Some of the members gave her hugs or simply shook hands, while others gave her a curt nod. Overall, it was very surprising to see such an accepting atmosphere.

"How did you do it?" Sasuke prodded when everyone was gone.

"Do what?" she asked absently as she cleaned up files and sealed any objects she had acquired into a scroll. One of their most proud possessions was a type of scroll that would only open if the chakra of the first person who used it was utilized to open it. This was one of their many safety precautions in order to prevent the enemy from finding out what they were trying to do.

"You managed to round up all these people and convinced them to help you. You're just a woman and you're not that strong either," Sasuke added at the end, which earned him a stern look from his brother.

"I told them the truth. I said war was coming and they needed to help me stop it. To convince them that the threat was real, all I had to do was describe what Madara did to me and show them a few of my scars," she replied, but after a pause, continued, "I did pay a few of them off, though."

She did not bother adding that it took seven painfully long years to get so many allies. Most had demanded that she do something for them as proof of loyalty and some of them had ended up being traitors. There was a lot of blood on her hands and in order to get to the most important people, murder was compulsory. The things she had done were a terrible nightmare and she knew that no matter what god she prayed to, she would not be forgiven. Her only hope was that by bringing down Madara, she would pay off part of her sins.

Shaking her head, she changed the subject, "Anyway, Sasuke, how did your mission go?"

The youngest Uchiha let an arrogant smirk plaster over his face as he said, "The entire army of those strange white mushrooms burned. I would love to see the look on that bastard's face when he find out."

Grinning, she gave Sasuke a playful punch on the shoulder and said, "Pretty good for your first mission."

Then, she turned to Itachi and said, "You're not going to let your brother out-do you, are you?"  
>"I delivered the money and got the information. The Snow Country scientist has indeed devised a neurotoxin that paralyzes its victims while keeping them awake. It makes using chakra impossible," replied the elder sibling.<p>

"Great! Now if only I were able to sneak some of it into Madara's drink," she mused out loud.

"I should go now. I have to deal with Orochimaru," Sasuke muttered as he put his hands together in a seal and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Itachi followed suit and Mika was left standing alone in the meeting room. With a small smile, she let herself relax for a moment and hope for the possibility that they really would take down Madara.

_**To be continued...!**_

Any thoughts on the drama?


	17. The Crash

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! I'm glad I managed to surprise some of you with Mika's unexpected actions, but it's been seven years and she's had plenty of time to think/act. After all, when Madara first kidnapped her, she was loyal to Konoha. Then, when she learned that the elders had ordered the massacre of the Uchiha clan, that only made her hate the elders and not all of Konoha. When she came back to Madara two weeks later, she lied to him when she said she would help him take down the entire ninja world. In truth, she had realized that Madara's plan was pure evil and it would kill a lot of innocent people. Thus, she decided to stay close to him so that when the time came, she could try and stop him. (That's the reason for the organization she created.) However, no matter what, Mika still loved Madara. When he had tortured her and then helped her heal, she thought she came to know the kinder side of Madara. Since (in a really twisted way) he was her hero, her admiration grew to love. Then, the part of her that knew he was evil interfered and she acted against him. As a result, she became doomed by her love for him and her will to save those she cared about. Hopefully that explains a little of Mika's motives for her actions :D

_**Chapter 17- The Crash.**_

"Orochimaru please, you're my only hope," Mika pleaded while she stood deep in the snake-man's lair. Thanks to Sasuke, she now knew exactly where it was.

"There is no one else who can complete the surgery and do you think I would risk coming here if I didn't seriously need your help?" she continued.

He put his hand on his chin and looked her right in the eyes before replying, "What makes you think that I would agree? I could just kill you and use you as mulch for my garden."

"You want to stop Madara, don't you? If Itachi is healthy, we will have more of a chance of victory," she persuaded.

Orochimaru's shoulders started to shake and he laughed. The display of mirth grew as he threw his head back and held his stomach. Meanwhile, Mika narrowed her eyes and stepped forward.

"This is serious! The entire ninja world is at stake-" "You think I don't know that?" he yelled suddenly.

Calming himself, he continued, "You are right. Besides Madara, I am the only ninja capable of performing the operation. However, you seem to be assuming that I am just going to freely give you my services."

"I am prepared to come to an agreement. Do you want money, forbidden jutsu scrolls, or a secret weapon? Name it," she challenged.

"I need a body. Sasuke has agreed to give me his, but I am not foolish enough to think that he'll still give it to me now that he and Itachi are reunited," he stated bluntly.

"Alright. Who do you want me to bring to you?" she asked and held back a heavy sigh. She had expected Orochimaru to demand a high price, but that did not mean she was eager to go running all around the ninja world. He started pacing in front of her with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Bring me Uchiha Madara," he said with a smug smirk.

Running a hand through her hair, Mika retorted, "We both know I would never be able to do that."

"Then our deal is off. Find another surgeon," he replied just as quickly.

Sighing, she said, "Then Itachi will die and there will only be two Uchiha left in the world. You want the Uchiha clan to be revived and letting Itachi die isn't very helpful to your cause. Think of someone else as your next vessel."

"Then bring me Hoshigaki Kisame," Orochimaru said finally. Mika nodded and turned to leave when he continued, "You do realize that I need two healthy Uchiha eyes for the surgery?"

Looking back, she gave him a solemn glance and said, "Sasuke and I will take care of that."

...

"It's this way," Mika whispered as she led the youngest Uchiha down the winding hallways of the first Akatsuki base she had ever been in. Every second spent in the space gave her a sour wave of nostalgia. The memories of what Madara had done to her in this place were not something she wanted to deal with at the moment. Almost symbolically, her scars ached and the stench of the earthen walls made her sick to the stomach. Still, she had to suck it up and complete their mission. Itachi's life depended on it.

"This is his medical room. I remember he had rows of eyes lining the walls. Just in case, we should take three. After all these years, it's hard to tell if they are still useful," she explained as she opened the door, which let out a pathetic creak.

Looking over at the metal table in the middle of the room, she involuntarily shuddered. She all too vividly recalled what it was like to lay on that table with a body covered in blood and a soul ripped to shreds.

If Sasuke noticed her sudden tenseness, he did not say anything as he approached the wall and tapped one of the glass containers. The crimson Sharingan eye floated carelessly and the teen was about to reach for the clasp when Mika put a hand on his shoulder.

"There's a trap," was all she said as she inspected the wall and gave it a few testing taps. A clicking noise began soon after and Sasuke got in a defensive position.

"Quick! Freeze it! It's going to send a warning to Madara!" she yelled as she removed one wall panel and revealed a chakra flare gun. The teen gave her a look that read 'I can't do ice jutsu!' and instead, drew his sword and with a few precise slashes, destroyed the device.

Letting out one final beep, the warning mechanism fell silent. Mika breathed out a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall. In the meantime, Sasuke put three of the glass containers into a backpack and slung the load over his shoulder.

"Let's get out of here," she muttered and after giving the metal table one last glance, walked out of the room. They wanted to use a different exit so they decided to detour past the destroyed Zetsu army and to the outside world.

Making their way past the kitchen, she shuddered and remembered those pitiful days when she couldn't use her legs. Then, as they came to the door to Madara's bedroom, she did not realize that she had stopped until Sasuke cleared his throat. A lump was forming in her throat as the images of the cruel, sadistic captor who had nearly raped her in that room came back. Turning away and continuing on their journey, she tried to convince herself that things had changed.

They turned the corner and she gave Sasuke a small smile as she reached for the door handle to the room with the burned Zetsus. As she opened the door, she expected to be assaulted by the stench of burnt flesh and the sight of charred, black remains, but when she saw the white, almost fully grown creatures, her heart skipped a beat.

"What is this? Sasuke, I thought you said you burned them all!" she said with growing panic. Was it possible that Madara has started to grow a new batch so quickly? The teen wrinkled his nose and looked around the room with narrowed eyes.

"What are you talking about? They're all burned. Can't you see them all lying on the ground? Ugh, it smells disgusting."

Mika approached Sasuke cautiously and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Sasuke. Please be honest with me. What do you see?"

"I just told you! There are black bits of bodies everywhere!" he yelled defensively and pushed her hand away.

"Why the hell are you looking at me like that?" he continued when a look of pure horror crossed her features. Her heart was beating at a mile a minute as she was slowly connecting the pieces of the puzzle.

Breathing became painful and she could barely say, "Sasuke, please pass me the eyes."

He rolled his eyes and tossed the backpack to her. She gave him a solemn frown and shook her head.

"I'm sorry Sasuke. I shouldn't have sent you alone on the Zetsu burning mission. Madara has you under genjutsu. He knows-" she broke off and covered her mouth.

"I have to go warn Itachi," she said and gave him one last apologetic glance before she pulled out a teleportation scroll, bit her thumb and spread the blood on it. There was a swirling of chakra and suddenly she was standing in the middle of the forest in Lightning Country. The underground meeting house was a few minutes of running away and she could sense Itachi's chakra close to it. Her limbs ached from the sudden teleport and her chakra levels were nearly depleted. However, adrenaline coursed through her veins and for the first time in many years, she truly feared what would happen. If Madara knew about Sasuke then it could be possible that he knew about her entire organization. Everyone was at risk.

"Itachi!" she yelled when she saw him at the entrance to the tunnel system.

"Don't go in there. We've been compromised. Madara knows. Here, just take this and go to Orochimaru. He will explain everything when you get there and tell him that I will bring Kisame's body as soon as I can. Sasuke-" her voice cracked and the pain in her chest blossomed to cripple her being.

Itachi took the backpack and after seeing the floating eyes, said, "You did not have to do this. I am going to die and I was prepared for that."

Mika grabbed Itachi by the cloak and pleaded, "Please Itachi, you have to live. Madara has Sasuke under genjutsu and he is going to kill me. You're the only one left! Go now, I have to warn the others."

"I am not leaving you," he replied firmly. She shook her head and put her hands on both sides of his face.

They were trembling slightly as she whispered, "You have to warn the other ninja nations. The world is in your hands."

Then, before he could do anything, she pulled out another teleportation scroll, put his hand on it and forced as much of her remaining chakra into as possible. It started to glow and the younger Uchiha was engulfed with blue light and teleported to the front door of Orochimaru's hideout. After he was gone, her knees started to shake and she felt faint.

Mika drew in a shuddery breath and sauntered toward the ladder that led her into the underground base with all of her allies. All she wanted to do was fall to the ground and sob, but knowing that her end was near, she wanted to save as many people as possible from Madara's wrath. With record speed, she shot down the hallway and threw the door to the meeting room open.

"Everyone! We've been found-" she yelled, but then her blood ran cold. Instead of seeing the faces of her precious allies, she saw their blood-covered corpses hanging from the ceiling. Each one had their stomachs sliced open and a grotesque chain of intestines was hanging out. The floor was covered with various human limbs and just like that, she saw seven years of painstaking effort crushed to dust. She fell to her knees when she saw the word 'Traitor' smeared in crimson on the wall.

Suddenly, her hair was grabbed from behind and she was pulled to her feet. A strong arm wrapped around her waist and a deep, cruel voice spoke into her ear, "I've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time."

She did not dare to resist because all of her chakra had been used up on the teleportation scrolls and she knew just what sort of punishment was in store if she so much as breathed in a way he didn't like.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she whispered, "Madara, how long have you known?"

"Ever since you gained your third ally, six and a half years ago. I let your pathetic little army grow, but when you brought Sasuke and Itachi into it, I had enough," he pulled her hair sharply when he said the last part.

After a moment of watching her hold in her pain, he chuckled and said, "Do you know how much pain is in store for you? Things are going to get much, much worse for you because you decided to go against me."

A few tears slipped down her cheeks as she replied, "I knew that when I began. No matter what you do to me, I still have no regrets."

He frowned and all of a sudden, she was brought face to face with one of her deceased allies.

"He is dead because of you. If you had not interfered with his life, he would he at home with his wife and son right now. Do you still have no regrets?" he sneered and shoved her toward another one.

"This is another one of your allies- now dead also because of you. She was pregnant with the child of this man," he continued as she pushed her into yet another rotting corpse.

Regaining her balance, she turned to him and said, "I told them all that they were taking a risk by joining. I did not force any of them."

"Is that what you tell yourself before you go to sleep each night? You're pathetic," he spat and took a threatening step toward her. She looked on his mask-less face and recognized the same rage that had caused him to mercilessly beat her seven years ago. Taking a hesitant step forward, she put one of her hands on the side of his face, while her other hand delved into her pocket.

"I just want you to know that no matter what I did against you, I still love you," she whispered and at the same time she kissed him, she drew a poisoned needle and stabbed him in the arm. He did not do anything to stop her. In fact, he did not even look at the injury. All he did was move one of his arms to wrap around her waist and draw her closer.

"And I bet you still will when I'm through with you," he replied as he slammed her against the wall and gave her a feverish facial maul. With wide eyes she tried to figure out why the toxin hadn't knocked him out. She would never be able to go as far as to kill him, but in order to ensure her safety, making him immobile was a good thing.

When he pulled away, he could see the question in her eyes and with a smirk said, "Do you want to know why your sneaky little plot didn't work?"

There was a tense pause and all she could hear was the blood rushing through her veins.

"Because none of this is real," he sneered the last part and her heart nearly quit beating as everything in her sight faded to red. It was all genjutsu.

"However, let me assure you that what is about to happen is one hundred percent real," he ended ominously and for a second, she was back in the slaughterhouse of a meeting room before everything started to spin.

She felt herself being thrown to the side and she clumsily regained her center of gravity while cautiously trying to figure out her new surroundings. Upon seeing the pale white back of a Zetsu, her panicking resumed. She hoped with all of her heart that Sasuke had managed to get out. Frantically looking around, she felt a helpless sense of despair when she saw Madara holding Sasuke by the throat. The teen looked frozen and she guessed that he was still under the effects of the genjutsu.

"Madara wait! He has nothing to do with you- it's me you want to punish. Just let him go!" she pleaded and staggered over to them. The elder Uchiha cast her an arrogant, mocking smirk before forcing Sasuke to his knees.

"You're probably wondering how I managed to keep him under genjutsu for so long. You're also probably wondering how the genjutsu was able to work even though I was hundreds of miles away," he started while Sasuke went completely limp.

"I don't need the ten tailed beast or the moon to do a jutsu like this. Nobody knows about this ability of mine. Nobody else has it either. _I _am the only Uchiha in history to awaken it and with it, I can make even the most skilled genjutsu experts fall into my trap," he explained and she could practically see the ego radiating off him.

"Do you understand now? I am invincible!" he bellowed and his words echoed off the cave walls.

"But that's not all I can do," he continued with a pure evil glint in his eyes. Mika watched with horror as the elder Uchiha put his right hand on Sasuke's forehead and let his chakra flow inside.

"This goes far beyond genjutsu. This is true mind control. I can change Sasuke's memories and mold him to my liking. He will have never been your ally, Mika, and he is my loyal subordinate," Madara ended with a crazed laugh right as Sasuke's eyes snapped open.

She tentatively approached her friend and whispered, "Sasuke. Please tell me you remember me."

The teen gave her a cold, hard glare before turning to Madara and saying, "What's your whore doing out of her cage? You should lock her up."

Mika stepped back and gave both Uchiha a dismayed glance before telling Madara, "You are a monster. Sasuke may be alive, but you might as well have killed him. What the hell do you tell yourself before you go to sleep?"

"I tell myself that soon I will be the ruler of this damned planet. You never did understand that I was doing all of this to create peace," he answered.

Shaking her head, she spat, "Earlier you called me pathetic, but now I see that you are the one who needs a reality check. It's actually gotten to the point where you need to psychologically manipulate people to make them loyal to you. So go ahead, turn me into your helpless little servant. And when you do, I want you to look my in the eyes and tell me you're not the devil himself."

Madara's eyes narrowed and he was suddenly standing in front of her as he said, "Like Sasuke said, whore, you need to go back into your cage."

_**To be continued...!**_

Mean Madara is back! Some of you may be happy about that, but the more romantic readers out there might be a little disappointed. It was to be expected, though. Madara's always been a cruel bastard.


	18. The Loss

Wow~ I'm glad so many of you liked the sudden turn back into sadism! Thank you for all of the supportive reviews!

**Aniwolfgirl **and _**Raixan**_: There will be plenty more of evil Madara in the future ;)

_**ScrewedUpAkatsuki128**_: I'm happy I surprised you enough to pause your breathing.

_**Toria122**_: Thank you for your honesty and I am extremely pleased that I made you come to like the MadaraOC pairing. :D

_**LookAtTheBeautifulDay**_: Scary Madara is surely enough so give anyone nightmares- me included.

_**Justcallmelucifer**_: A nice ending? Maybe XD Heh, in the next few chapters you'll be able to see just how 'nice' Madara can be.

_**Jestie Uchiha**_: Mika is... well, you'll find out in this chapter ;) As for Itachi and Sasuke, it'll be a surprise!

_**Joanna Davi**_s: Good prediction skills~ And yes, Madara Sue is a wonderful way to sum Madara up. Just a quick note, though, the genjutsu only lasted a few weeks- Sasuke was intercepted by Madara on his mission to burn the Zetsus. (My bad for making it a bit vague.)

_**Yuti-Chan**_: For romance-loving reader like you, there is hope! Madara _might_ still have a romantic bone somewhere in his body. Mika might say she wanted to kill him, but she's hopeless. Her love for him would always stop her.

_**Kuran . Akarixx**_: Perfect- I'm glad you see the various bits of the plot from the past coming together. (By the way, did you know that when I typed your username into the document, wouldn't post it?")

As for today's chapter, for the first time in years, Mika and Madara have a chance to talk to each other and lay the truth down. However, Madara's not the type of person to accept being wronged so easily.

_**Chapter 18- The Loss.**_

"Why did you betray me, Mika? We could have been perfect together and no one would need to get hurt," Madara said as he gave her a hard glare.

She tried to think of what to say, but all that crossed her mind was fear. With all of her heart, she wanted to run away to a safe place where she would not have to endure the ensuing torture. Her muddled brain tried its best to come up with something to ebb away the Uchiha's anger, but as she looked into his cold, compassionless eyes, she realized that there was no hope.

"I did what I had to do to save Itachi," she started and she regretted opening her mouth a split second after.

"You can't tell me the entire organization was created just for Itachi. You seriously intended to bring me down," he hissed and took a threatening step toward her. Traitorously, her knees started to shake and she wanted to back away, but she knew that she had to appear courageous.

"You're right. I wanted to bring you down, but that's because I realized what you were doing was wrong. Controlling the world is one thing, but brainwashing every single citizen is a whole other," she tried to explain.

"So you would rather live in a world where a group of foolish elders have the ability to order the mass slaughter of a whole clan?" he spat, his rage starting to surface again.

"The world isn't perfect, but surely you understand that it can be fixed in less radical ways than the Moon's Eye Plan," she pleaded and took a hesitant step toward him. So desperately she wanted him on her side that she was willing to risk getting too close. Besides, she thought pessimistically, if he wanted to get close to her he could do so with minimal effort.

"It cannot. Less progressive plans have limited results and in the end, the world will go back to being corrupt," he said and grabbed her by the wrist.

She hid her discomfort and decided to change the subject by saying, "If you knew about me for six and a half years, why did you wait so long before doing anything?"  
>"You needed a hobby. Besides, your little group found a few useful things," he said and with his free hand, reached into his pocket to pull out a small glass vial. Instantly, her eyes widened and she attempted to wrench her hand out of his grasp.<p>

"This is the valuable neurotoxin your Snow Country scientist found. Now can you remind me what it does again?" he mocked and yanked her by the wrist, causing her to come even closer to him. Her heart was racing at a mile per minute and the more imaginative part of her brain vividly described all of the horrible things he could do to her if he managed to use it one her.

Clearing her throat, she managed to say, "It keeps its victim conscious, but unable to move."

"That's right. Now why would you need such a thing unless you intended to use it against me?" he asked, though, he already knew the answer. She opened her mouth to speak, but instead looked away and closed her eyes.

"If I used this on you, I could do _anything_ and there wouldn't be a thing you would be able to do to stop me," he whispered huskily into her ear as he turned them around to make it so that she had her back against the wall. She took a deep breath and resisted the urge to sigh in relief when he put the vial back in his pocket.

Suddenly, he was right up against her. One of his legs was between hers and both of his arms were trapping hers at her sides. His lips were at her ear as he growled, "I won't use it because tonight, I want you to fight."

Next thing she knew, he drew back and punched her right in the face. For a moment, all she could so was inhale sharply and let the numb sensation of pain spread through her face.

He moved his arm back again into a hitting position so she instinctively yelled, "Wait! You promised you would never hurt me again! You said you would never go back on your word!"

Chuckling, Madara brought his hand to her throat and gave it a playful squeeze.

"Are you calling me a liar?" he asked testily.

Mika swallowed the lump in her throat and answered, "I'm simply saying you've changed. Seven years ago, when you said that to me, you would have kept your word. But now that war is coming, you're a completely different person."

His lips curled down into a frown and he stated blankly, "I've always been like this. It's who I am- a murderer, a warmonger, a torturer and a proud Uchiha."

"Then who were you pretending to be all those years? Was the Madara I knew an alias just like Tobi?" she whispered as her heart beat hollowly in her chest. The idea that their relationship had been a lie hurt more than all of the injuries he had dealt to her in his life. For a moment, his face softened, but like all moments, it passed. His eyes became shadowed with something too dark to describe and even his chakra appeared to be more sinister.

"You will not be able to guilt me into feeling some sort of emotion toward you. You are as much of a liar as I am. You're the one who promised me that you would help me bring down Konoha and the entire ninja world," he reminded.

She looked away and replied, "I was going to help you bring the world down, but when your plan meant the death of individuality, I knew I had to stop you."

"Really, Mika? You intended to stop _me_? Look where that has gotten you. Everything was going well and I was actually considering making you the one person who would be at my side as I ruled the world. But now, you are nothing more than a lowly whore," he ranted and with every word, she became increasingly aware of his intentions.

Worry laced her tone as she stuttered, "Madara, please, you're not actually thinking of..."

A sinister grin appeared on his features and his voice dripped with lust when he said, "For seven years, I waited for you to give yourself up. But no more. Tonight, I will make you mine."

At that moment, Mika was surprised her heart did not rip itself into two because of the dangerous cocktail of terror, distress and panic in her veins. She could do nothing as he picked her up and threw her onto his bed. Once more, she was painfully reminded that they were in his bedroom.

"I know you hate me right now, but please, think about what you're doing. J-Just let your mind clear for a moment and reconsider," she begged and mentally cursed when her voice cracked. She had to stay strong. There was the chance that if she reasoned with him enough, he wouldn't-

Her mind was shutting down and she could feel her thoughts fleeing into the instinctive pattern. It was as if someone was screaming the word 'run' over and over again into her ear.

She snapped back into reality when she felt something icy and sharp on her side. Looking over, she nearly choked on her breath when she saw him using a large dagger to cut her shirt off. He didn't even have the patience to remove her clothing properly. Her instincts took over and she jumped to the opposite side of the bed.

Just as quickly, he raised his weapon and sneered, "If you won't stay still, I'll just have to beat the obedience into you."

"You said you wanted me to fight, didn't you?" she yelled back and got in a defensive position. She was no longer the same weak little girl he had captured seven years ago. Things had changed and she was determined to prove to him that she would not so easily be used for his pleasure.

He lunged at her and she swiftly picked up the nightstand lamp before throwing it at him. Unsurprisingly, it went straight through him and the light source smashed into the opposite wall. The room suddenly became darker, but the two fighters were undeterred. Mika grabbed a metal candle holder and prepared for the onslaught.

Madara smirked at her pathetic choice of weapon and jumped on the bed before saying, "Go ahead and fight with all you've got. We both know who is going to win this battle."

Part of her agreed with him, but she would never say that out loud. Her breaths were short and sudden and she felt she had enough adrenaline to outrun a dinosaur. The random burst of prehistoric trivia gave her an idea and she tightened her grip on the candle holder.

He threw himself at her again so she did the unexpected and flung herself to the floor. Before he could do anything, she crawled under the bed and hit him in the foot with the metal wax-holding object. Cursing, he bent down to look under the bed, but by then, she was already on top of the bed. Using the split-second opportunity, she jumped over Madara, threw the door open and shot out of it.

Like a madwoman, she raced all the way to the large cavern that used to hold the bijuu sealing statue, which was now located in the eastern Akatsuki base. It was empty with the exception of one small object. Seven years ago, when she had been starving in the cave, all she had was a small can of beans. Since she had managed to crack the cavern entrance open, she had not been required to eat the legumes. However, all these years, the can had remained lying by the cave wall. She dashed over to it, picked it up and hurriedly stuffed it in her pocket.

A second later, Madara ran in, dagger still at hand. Mika took a deep breath, _looked him in the eyes_ and yelled, "Let's settle this once and for all!"

He did not have any objections because he dashed at her with full speed and repeatedly tried to slash her with his weapon. She narrowly dodged and prayed that her luck would hold long enough for her plan to work. Suddenly, he switched hands and the dagger came at her from an unexpected direction.

With a sickening crack, the metal weapon lodged itself in her stomach and she could feel blood going up her throat. However, with the last of her strength, she pulled the can out and smashed Madara in the head with it. Since he had been fully materialized when he had attacked her, the can managed to make contact and he let go of the dagger before jumping back. Red life liquid gushed from her wound, but she pulled the dagger out and held it in her hand.

The intense pain made her thoughts dissipate like fog in the morning sun. Staggering forward, she grabbed the can and held both objects in her hand. Madara got in an offensive position again so she hastily cut the can open and stuffed the decade old nutrients in her mouth.

Continuing with her plan, she let out a mentally disturbed laugh, dropped the knife and sauntered toward Madara with a mad grin on her face. He paused and looked at her with narrowed eyes, unsure what to do with the latest development. She fell to her knees a few feet in front of him and let her limbs hang limply.

For a while, she did not move so Madara nudged her with his foot, causing her to topple to the side. Finally deciding that it wasn't a trap, he leaned over her and felt her pulse. She was still alive, but barely conscious.

With the last of her strength she whispered, "I know you, Madara, and the only way you're going to have any sort of intercourse with me is if I'm awake. You want me to suffer..."

She let out a cough and then spat out blood.

"These beans," she resumed hoarsely, "Are over seven years old. My immune system is down because of the stab wound and as a result, these nice, toxic beans will put me into the happiest coma of my life."

A small smile graced her lips and her eyes closed. However, there was no way Madara was going to let her get away that easily because he picked her up and forced her to her feet. Then, much to her dismay, he gathered a fist full of chakra and punched her directly in the stomach. The impact was so great that her body crumpled inward and a couple of her ribs broke.

Mika looked like she was going to scream, but a sudden lurch moved through her body and forced her to vomit out the contents of her stomach. A putrid mixture of blood and beans forced its way out of her mouth and onto the dark cave floor, causing her to go completely limp in his arms. She had lost too much blood and the vomiting had not exactly been very helpful to her stab wound.

Smirking at his handiwork, Madara carried her to his bedroom again and laid her down on the bed. She looked completely defeated, but he could tell from the occasional twitch that she was still fighting.

"No," she whispered weakly when he started taking her clothes off again. Helpless, all she could do was beg the gods that the blood loss would make everything fade to black in a matter of minutes.

"See, I didn't even need to use the neurotoxin. You're already limp and unmoving. This is proof of how feeble you are compared to me. I will _always_ be your superior," he rebuked as he pulled his own shirt off. She whimpered as he climbed onto the bed.

He reached for the belt on her pants and she closed her eyes. If this really was going to happen, she did not want to be haunted by the images of her heartless captor hanging over her.

"Are you really going to throw away seven years of my love just for one night of revenge?" she asked barely above a whisper. A shiver passed through her body and she coughed, more blood making its way onto her face.

"You could always come willingly," he replied from behind her. She furrowed her brow and tried to figure out why she had just heard the voice not coming from its original location. Focusing her eyes, she was confused to see things getting blurrier and blurrier. Why was everything so-?

"You really should stop looking me in the eyes," he said calmly. His arms were wrapped around her waist and they were currently standing in the large cavern that used to contain the wooden statue. The can of beans lay discarded by her feet and there were no injuries on her body.

She tried to move, but his grip tightened and he continued, "If you keep resisting, I will have to take you by force and as you just saw, I could do so easily. This is your final warning, Mika."

The breath hitched in her throat and she was still recovering from the effects of the genjutsu when he kissed her neck and said, "If you come willingly, I can make this a much more pleasurable experience for both of us."

"There's no third option, is there?" she asked in a dejected tone. He sighed and turned her around so that they could face each other.

"You betrayed me. Now, you have to be punished. We discussed this seven years ago, have you forgotten?" he walked her through his logical argument.

She shook her head and muttered, "You're right. You made it perfectly clear what the consequences for betrayal were and I am in no position to be demanding otherwise."

He seemed to like that answer and leaned in to give her a light kiss. With a desperate sort of manor, she kissed back. Mika tried with all of her might to make herself come to terms with her predicament. This was her partner and not some stranger so certainly that made things better. Besides, hadn't it been her intention to eventually be with him?

Finally, with a burst of hope, she made her mind up and the kiss became more passionate. He noticed this and pulled her closer. In a flurry, they made it back to the bedroom and within a few minutes, she was laying underneath him in the bed.

"You win, Madara. I am yours," she said and it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. For the first time in a long time, she felt like they truly were meant for each other.

...

The next morning, Mika awoke with a smile on her face. She was amazed that despite the horrible tension of all the sadistic things Madara had done to those she cared about, she still had no regrets about what they had done last night. Briefly, she wondered if that made her a horrible person. After all, she was now literally sleeping with the enemy.

Turning to lie on her back, she was a little confused to see that Madara was not in the room with her. Not giving it too much thought, she got dressed and waited patiently on the bed.

A few minutes later, he came into the room. She gave him a sheepish smile, but she was disappointed that he did not return the gesture. Mentally scolding herself, she remembered that she should not have been expecting that much from him. He was never one to show much emotion and there were a lot of complicated issues that still needed solving.

"Hold still, this will pinch a little," he said and drew a medical syringe from his pocket. Instantly, her alarm went up and she jumped away from the bed.

"What is that going to do?" she demanded as a million scenarios rushed through her head.

Deciding to be honest with her, he replied, "I cannot trust you and I know you will do something to try and stop me. Thus, this chemical compound will help to neutralize you."

Her eyes narrowed and she stated suspiciously, "Define 'neutralize'."

"It will make you very calm and I won't have to worry about you doing something stupid," he said bluntly.

Shaking her head, she continued, "You're not telling me something. By 'very calm' you probably mean 'paralyzed' and you won't have to worry because I'll be a brain-dead vegetable."

"This is the nicest option. The other is that I have to wound your arms and legs to prevent your mobility. Or, I could beat you over the head until you get amnesia," he explained without the slightest hint of emotion. Horror struck, she opened her mouth to speak, but no words could come out. She keenly hoped to keep her freedom, but she would rather have to deal with the effects of the drug than any injuries to her person. After last night, she emotionally could not handle to have the one she loved hurt her.

Taking a deep breath, she sat back down on the bed and said, "Alright. I'll accept the injection."

He rolled up her sleeve and as he was about to send the chemical compound coursing through her veins, she said, "I trust you, Madara. Just keep one little thing in mind, though. If this drug changes me into a completely different person, I want you to hold onto my memory and not kill me simply because the new, altered me isn't as amusing."

She did not know why, but her throat became painfully constricted and she barely managed to say, "If this is goodbye, then let me just say I forgive you."

Her eye-lids dropped and she fell onto his lap. Absently, he patted her head and put the syringe away. It unnerved him to no end that her last words had sounded as if she knew just what the drug would do to her.

"Goodbye, Aranuki Mika."

_**To be continued...!**_

Cliffhanger!


	19. The Lie

Wow! Your reviews were especially interesting to read this time. Some of you interpreted 'goodbye' as Mika's sudden death. Others were a little more imaginative with what the drug could do to her. Some of you even managed to nail exactly what was going to happen to her. Thank you for sending me your opinions and comments- I really appreciate it. Without further adieu, here is the next chapter!

_**Chapter 19- The Lie.**_

Two wide eyes danced around a large, luxurious room filled with unfamiliar furniture and a previously unseen setting. Everything was bathed in light and there was a beautiful window at the front of the room that was letting the blessed sunshine through.

"Where am I?" a woman muttered out loud and stood up, only to see that she was wearing a white gown. With mild interest, she fingered the garment and wondered why it was on her person.

"You're home," a deep voice replied and she turned around to see a tall, handsome man with short black hair and red eyes.

Fidgeting with the fabric in her hands, she asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is Uchiha Madara," he said and stepped closer to her. She simply continued staring at him and trying to figure out what this strange man had to do with her being here.

Suddenly, she gasped and in a timid, wavering voice she inquired, "Who am I?"

He was standing right in front of her as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder and said, "Your name is Aranuki Mika."

"Aranuki Mika," she repeated and then closed her eyes, as if trying to figure out why the name did not ring any bells.

"Why don't I remember anything?" she continued with the barrage of questions. Madara offered her a small smile and led her toward the window.

"There was an accident and you hit your head. You went into a coma and I was very worried about you, but you're fine now," he explained calmly as he moved the curtains over. She gasped when she saw that they were in a house between two cliffs. There was a river flowing right by the house and a majestic waterfall was cascading along one of the cliff sides.

"I live here with you?" she said and bewilderment was painted on her features.

"Yes, you're my wife," he told her and gave her hand a light squeeze. Furrowing her brow, she looked down at her hand and saw a small, golden ring on her finger. She felt a little upset that she didn't remember her wedding day.

Looking up at him again, she let a soft smile play on her face. Her husband seemed kind enough and she was glad that he would go through all the trouble to wait for her to come out of the coma.

"Thank you," she said and leaned on his shoulder. He was taken aback by the gesture, but did not say anything in return. They stood silently, enjoying the scenery, until a few more questions came to Mika's mind.

"Can we sit down? I have a lot of things to ask. I'm so confused and I don't remember anything at all so please bear with me," she said and gently tugged him by the arm to sit on the couch.

"Do I have any relatives?" she asked hopefully.

"No. Your parents died when you were a teenager and you were an only child," he said and stifled a sigh when he saw her face fall.

"When did we get married?" she continued as she studied the dainty little ring.

"Seven years ago," he said and surprise crossed her features.

"Do we have any children?" Mika said with a hint of worry in her tone. She could not imagine that her head injury was so severe that she would forget about her own flesh and blood.

"No, but we wanted to," he replied and noticed a small blush in her cheeks. No doubt, she was trying to remember their bedroom relationship.

"Why do we live here? I thought most people lived in villages with others."

"We're not safe in the village. There is a war going on and in order to protect ourselves, we moved here. This house cannot be found so you'll always be safe," Madara said with a few grains of truth.

"A war..." she muttered and closed her eyes again. Surely she would remember something as important as that?  
>"Yes, I have to leave in a couple of days. I have to make sure you're fine first," he said and worry flickered through her eyes.<p>

"But it's dangerous! You said we were safe here so why do you have to go?" she said and gave his hand a squeeze. Even though she did not remember him, she could feel that he had been very important to her at some point.

"I have to go. Besides, I'm the army general," he explained with a hint of a smirk.

Her eyes sparkled and with an awestruck tone she said, "The general! That makes you the strongest person!"

Then, in a more timid note, she added, "I'm glad I woke up to be the wife of a hero."

Madara almost lost his façade right then and there. His smile nearly turned into a frown when he realized just how mind-altering the drug had turned out to be. The new Mika had no idea he was the villain and because she had such a soft, carefree look on her face, he did not have the heart to tell her that.

"I am leading the world into a new phase of existence. When I win the war, there will finally be peace," he said, which only made her admiration of him rise. He was rather confused to feel a dull pain in his chest and upon reflecting a little, he realized it was guilt. Narrowing his eyes a fraction of a degree, he dismissed the silly notion and focused back on Mika.

Her shoulders were sagging and her eyes were tightly shut. She seemed to be extremely concentrated, but when she let out a disappointed sigh, he knew whatever she had been trying to think of had not come to mind.

"There is absolutely nothing. No matter how hard I try to think back, all I see is a never-ending darkness. Will I ever remember our life together?" she asked and gave him the most pitiful look her could imagine. The old Mika had always kept her emotions under lock and key so seeing such vulnerable emotion on her face was a bit of a shock.

"I don't know. Everyone reacts differently to head injuries. But don't give up hope, I'm sure it'll come to you eventually," he said and her shoulders straightened a little.

"How did we meet?" she questioned and leaned on his shoulder.

"In a forest a bit north of your home village, you were walking around when you got stuck in a trap. I helped you out of it and we started seeing each other soon after," he said and it was partially true.

Shaking her head, she commented, "I seem to be getting myself hurt a lot."

"How old am I?"

"Twenty-eight years old," he replied and she nodded thoughtfully.

"So what was I doing for the twenty-one years before I met you?"

"You were a messenger in your home village. It was your job to deliver various urgent letters and scrolls around the world," he lied. He figured it would be unwise to tell her that she used to be able to fight and do jutsu. If he could help it, he would try to make sure she didn't even remember the word ninja.

"I guess I wasn't very smart then," she said with a bit of a sigh, but then continued, "What attracted you to me? If I was just a messenger and you were in the army, we really didn't have much in common."

"Your determination and creativity took me by surprise. You were a very endurable person," he said with a bit of fond remembering. Briefly, he wondered if the new Mika would be as strong.

"Was I good at anything else? Hobbies, I mean," she asked.

"You were very good at making friends back in the village. You even had your own little group that held meetings every once in a while," he said and it was true, though, only a truth through omission.

Her eyes lit up and she inquired, "Do we have any photographs of the people I used to know?"

Shaking his head, Madara replied, "We left in a hurry so we weren't able to take much. That's why everything in this house is new and unused."

"The war, what is it for? Other than peace, what are you fighting for?" she asked and there was a lost sort of look on her face. It was as if part of her was trying to break through and remember the truth about the war.

"For many years, the world has been corrupted. A small group of people controlled everything and they made terrible decisions. Whole clans of people died because of them and now my army has gotten strong enough to go on the offensive," he said and again, left out a vast majority of the important details. Mika was listening, but again, there was a very confused aspect of her.

Furrowing her brow, she whispered, "I feel dizzy suddenly. Could this be because of the accident?"

He stroked her hair and laid her down on the couch before saying, "You need to rest. This is too much information for you and you should take it slow."

"Thank you," she said and gave him another vainly oblivious, innocent smile.

...

There was only pain.

Agony, darkness, fear and panic eagerly replaced the emptiness during those few rare seconds when the pain went away. Mika did not know what was happening, but she could tell that it was not good. Something evil was standing in front of her, holding a sharp knife, and no matter how much she squinted, the blur did not disappear. She had no idea why, but she was deathly afraid of what was going to happen. It was as if part of her knew what would come next, but the rest of her was left guessing.

And then, the pain was back.

The knife was in her legs, arms and torso. Everything was happening so fast that she barely knew which of the injuries had been dealt to her first. All she could tell was that she was writhing on the floor, oozing precious blood. Her thoughts were rare as all she was doing was gasping for breath and trying her best not to cough up blood. Each movement felt like a step closer to death, but in her current state, that was not necessarily a bad thing.

"Stupid bitch, you deserve to suffer," a deep voice spat. Why did the voice sound so familiar?

The life was slowly flowing out of her and for one terrifying second, she realized she was going to die. Despite the pain she prayed that her heart would keep beating. After having gone through so much, she did not want to have to die here. The thought suddenly made her stop. Why did she think she had been through so much if this was the only painful instance she could recall?

"Mika! Mika, wake up!" a gentler, more urgent voice called out to her. She opened her mouth to reply, by a painful cough was all that managed to get out.

Suddenly, she felt hands all around her and the pain was disappearing. The blood was gone and her body was no longer a large open sore. Her cheeks felt wet and that was when she realized that she had been crying. Opening her eyes, she felt severely misplaced. Everything was so light and clean. Her muddled mind wondered why she would expect something different.

"Where am I?" she asked when she saw a familiar looking man with black hair and red eyes staring down at her. He was rocking her gently back and forth.

"You're home and safe. What did you see?" he asked.

Furrowing her brow, she recalled with great difficulty that the man in front of her was Uchiha Madara. He was also apparently her husband, but she was so confused that she could not remember.

"Pain," was all she said vaguely, but then added, "Darkness."  
>"Did you see who attacked you?" he posed more urgently.<p>

"Somebody attacked me? What are we talking about?" she questioned in return, sincerely perplexed.

"You were crying and thrashing in your sleep. You had a nightmare," he reminded, but all he got was a blank stare.

"I had a nightmare? I don't remember," she muttered and rubbed her head. Madara sighed and lifted her up to sit on the couch. The effects of the drug were still quite strong if they made her forget something she had spoken of only moments earlier.

"I'm hungry. Do we have anything to eat?" she asked as she wiped the tears away and smiled innocently.

"The kitchen is down the hallway. It's the first turn on the right," he said and with another grin, she trotted off.

Madara stood and ran a hand through his hair. That had been a close call.

...

The next day went by without much issues, though, there were a few instances where Madara and Mika were having a conversation when she forgot what they were talking about. She also spent a long time with her eyes closed and her brow locked in a constant state of puzzlement. Sometimes she said things that sounded like something that the old Mika would say, but every time he would ask her why she said it, she would forget and ask what she had said.

"I wonder how many days a person can go without food," she stated randomly as she was staring out the window. With a wince, he realized this was an echo of the time when she had been stuck at the Akatsuki base with very little to eat.

"Six or seven days, I guess," he replied, which caused her to turn around and say, "Six or seven days what?"

"Never mind, it's not important," he dismissed and let her get back to watching the water flowing down the cliff wall.

Later that evening, she was holding a chess piece when she muttered, "People can be manipulated with just a look of the eyes."

The most worrying comment, though, had been uttered from her mouth right before they were going to sleep.

She had turned to him, looked him right in the eyes and said, "I have betrayed you."

"Why do you say that?" he asked with his eyes narrowed.

"Huh? I didn't say anything. I was just thinking," she replied with a shrug and climbed under the covers. After a pause, he followed suit and they lay back to back.

The next morning, he woke up, but she was not lying beside him. Slightly worried for her safety, he quickly got dressed and started looking around the house. It did not take long because she was standing barefoot in the bathroom. Her nightgown lay discarded on the floor and she was only wearing her undergarments as she was staring at herself in the mirror.

Upon noticing him, she stated, "My head injury wasn't an accident, was it?"

He moved to get her a towel, but she shook her head and continued, "Look at me, Madara. I am covered in scars."

She gestured to the stitches around her heart, the long, thin scar on her right arm, the slashes on her stomach and the two symmetrical stab wounds on her legs. There were many others and they painted a grim picture of the past that no drug would ever be able to conceal.

Then, she showed him her right arm and said, "It says 'I will stay awake'. Why would I have something like that on my arm?"

After grabbing her gown, she slipped it on over her head, turned to him and continued, "You told me I was a messenger so why would I have such brutal scars covering me from head to toe?"  
>"I'm sorry," he muttered as he pulled her into a sudden hug. She gingerly returned the gesture, but she was not expecting him to be so reactive to her words.<p>

"It's my fault," he started, which caused her to stiffen in his grasp.

"When my enemies found out that you were my wife, they set out to hurt you. Shortly after, you were sent to deliver a scroll to a location deep in the forest. I should have known something was wrong, but we were both so busy," he continued and rubbed her back.

"You were kidnapped and tortured," he whispered the last word. Her eyes widened and she felt like she was burning. Each of her scars let out a dull ache and the few shattered fragments of her nightmares came back to her.

"I searched for you endlessly, but I only found you two months later. I didn't want you to remember because it took you weeks to get back to normal," he finished. Thus, the foundation was built: a lie upon another lie.

"What about my head injury?" she inquired when she noticed that the scars were years old, but she had only recently been struck in the head.

"It was an assassination attempt at me, but you were with me when it happened. I managed to dodge; however, the explosion threw you back and down the stairs," he weaved yet another lie on his twisted web.

Nodding, she accepted his explanation and untangled herself from him before saying, "You're right. That is not something I would like to remember."

She intertwined their hands together and with a small smile, started leading them to the kitchen for breakfast. It was such a tragedy that the poor girl truly believed that she was the wife of the noble hero Uchiha Madara and not the slave of the evil mastermind who set out to destroy the world.

_**To be continued...!**_

Any thoughts on the events?


	20. The Relapse

Thank you for all the lovely reviews, favorites and alerts!

_**Raixan**_: Well, the idea of making Mika loose her memory really came from Madara's manipulative personality in the manga- he is always trying to have full control so to me, it was only a matter of time before Mika's mind was up for grabs.

_**Joanna Davis**_: I'm glad you liked the twist! Yes, Mika would eventually go and try to find who she used to know, but I'm not sure whether or not Madara would ever let her out of the house. Wow, Madara seriously looks like a creep...

_**Kuran . Akarixx**_: ;) Madara _might_ regret. He's lived for so long that he's probably forgotten the meaning of the word, though.

_**LookAtTheBeautifulDay**_: Madara does have a silver tongue! His lies are a little _too_ well planned. Hah, yes, possessive freak sums Madara up pretty well.

_**Saki0112**_: I'm glad you find the plot interesting~

_**Yuti-Chan**_: Hm, Madara's always been quick to lie so don't be surprised if what he says about the lies is yet another lie. She is happy... I think.

_**ScrewedUpAkatsuki128:**_ Mika is... far from her usual self. Since she doesn't remember being a ninja, she is no longer quite so rebellious and obsessive about survival. Poor Mika.

_**Jestie Uchiha**_: Lies biting Madara in the butt- it's an interesting mental image. But yes, it's way overdue for Karma to slap him in the face for being so cruel to Mika.

_**Chapter 20- The Relapse.**_

Madara only had a split second to bend down as a ceramic plate whizzed at him and then smashed against the wall behind him. Mika was the source of the hurled object and for the first time in a week, he saw the real her inhabiting the drugged body. Her eyes were narrowed in a glare of pure rage and he could feel her chakra flaring around her dangerously.

"I'll always fight you, Madara!" she yelled as she reached for another plate. Suddenly, she crumpled to the ground and groaned, "My head-"

He rushed over to her side and held her in his arms, but she was gone. Instead, his innocent, foolish wife opened her eyes.

"Madara? What happened? Why am I on the floor?" she asked and with no hesitation at all, peered into his eyes. There was a pause and he had to admit that he really had not been expecting to see such a discrepancy between the old Mika and the drugged one. He had also not been prepared for such drastic relapses of personality. After all, he should have known that she would resist the effects of her mind being wiped.

"I came in and you were on the floor," he said and helped her stand up. When she saw the shattered plate, she shook her head and reached for a spare towel.

"I've made such a mess. I'll clean it up," she said and immediately got to work. He watched her for a moment, but then walked out of the room and massaged the bridge of his nose. In two days, he had to leave for the battlefield and if Mika still remembered any aspect of her past, it would be dangerous to leave her by herself. She would be a threat to herself and all those around her. Sighing, he decided that if she were to continue showing sighs of her normal self, he would get someone to watch over her in his absence.

"Um, I think I made a dent in the wall. I don't know why, but I must have thrown the plate, sorry," she said meekly and leaned on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her and rested his head on hers.

"It's alright. You remember that I have to leave in a couple of days right?" he asked and he could feel her grip on him get a little tighter.

"Honestly, no. I only know because I wrote it down," she said and suddenly, she let go of him, gestured for him to stay and ran into the neighboring room. A moment later, she re-emerged with a notebook.

Giving him an excited smile, she opened it and said, "I write everything down in here. Otherwise, I'll forget it. Here, look what I have written so far."

She handed the notebook to him and eagerly waited for him to comment on her note taking skills. Madara gave her a hint of a smile and started to read the first page.

'_Day 1:Hello, my name is Aranuki Mika and I am twenty-eight years old. I'm married to the wonderful, caring, army general Uchiha Madara. We've been together for seven years, but we don't have any children. I don't have any living relatives and before I married Madara, I used to be a messenger. I'm writing all of this down because I had an accident and my memory is really poor as a result. But it's okay- Madara said things would come back to me eventually.'_

He turned the page and continued. Days three through seven were generally normal. They described the days' events and anything that she needed to remember for the future. Her thoughts and feelings were also included, which really made the notebook more of a diary than anything.

'_Day 8:_,' he started reading and recalled that it was today, '_It is all a lie! Wake up and remember who you are!'_

His brow became furrowed as he noted that the handwriting on the first few entries was neat, whereas, this last entry was scribbled and barely understandable. With mixed feelings, he realized that the old Mika was surfacing in multiple ways.

"What is it? Did I write something wrong?" she asked and tried to see what he was reading. Using the stealth that only ninja had, he ripped the last page out and hid it in his pocket. The action had been so quick that she did not even see it.

"No. It's a wonderful journal," he said and as he handed it to her, he gave her a light kiss on the forehead. Pleased, she gave him a grin and trotted off to their room. Meanwhile, Madara turned and walked toward the window. A solemn frown was fitted over his features as he imagined the internal struggle that was bound to happen between the real Mika and his wife.

...

"Run! Just run! What are you waiting for? Get up and run! He's going to kill you!" was all Mika heard as she awoke from a nap. The yelling made her glance around the room in search of the owner of the voice. It had sounded urgent and a nervous twinge stirred in her stomach.

"Who's there?" she whispered and cautiously stood up. No one replied to her pleas, so she re-asked the question, only to get the same response. After a good ten minutes of waiting in the silence, she shrugged her shoulders and lay back down on the couch. Madara was out running an errand so she figured there was no need for her to stay awake.

Within a matter of minutes, she was engulfed by darkness and her mind was set free from the shackles of consciousness. She could feel herself floating somewhere within the confines of her mind. Everything was dark and she wondered if her inner psyche should be quite so disarrayed.

"Over here! Can you see me? Hello!" the voice from before yelled and she frantically glanced about. There was a sudden flash of light and she was standing in the middle of a massive, cave-like room. A pair of chains was extending right from the top and in the very centre, a woman was bound. She looked completely immobile, but she still looked like she was in the middle of the struggle of her life.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my mind?" Mika demanded with a growing sense of confusion.

"You can hear me? I am so relieved! I screamed and called for a solid week and finally you're here!" the strange trapped woman replied with a grin on her face.

"You were telling me to run earlier, weren't you?" Mika continued.

"Look, I'm not sure how much time we have so I'll be short- I am you. I'm trapped, but not physically. This is just your mind trying to send you a message in a visual way. You need to try to remember what happened to you before the accident. Only then will I be free. You might also want to drink plenty of fluids to get the toxin out of your system," the woman explained in a serious tone.

"Trapped? Toxin? What are you talking about?" was all Mika could say.

"You're waking up so I can't explain. Just remember this- don't trust him! Madara is not who he says he is!" the woman continued and things began to loose their focus. Next thing she knew, she was sitting on the couch and wondering why she had such an unusual dream.

The details of what she had seen were getting blurrier by the second, but she felt the definite urge to go and drink some water. With nothing better to do, Mika went to the kitchen and got a 2 L pitcher of water. An hour later, Madara found her in the living room with said pitcher.

"Did you drink that entire thing?" he questioned. She merely nodded and finished off another glass.

"Why?" he continued with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"Someone told me to. I don't remember who it was though," she mused out loud and tried to recall what had led her into drinking such a copious amount of liquid. As she was lost in a sea of her thoughts, Madara was trying to stop a frown from forming on his features. There was no one in the house other himself and her, which meant that the person who had spoken to Mika had originated from inside the girl herself.

He decided not to comment on the situation and instead, distracted her by saying, "I brought back some supplies. Could you help me unpack?"

Her eyes lit up and she jumped up from her seat. Then, a light frown formed on her features and she put a hand on her stomach.

"Oh, maybe I shouldn't make such sudden movements," she muttered as she began making her way to the entrance of the house to get the new supplies. Madara's eyes followed her retreating form with a hint of doubt. His wife's steps were so light and unsure and they were nothing compared to Mika's previous confident strides. For a split second, he missed the girl he used to know. Alas, the upcoming war crept back into his mind and he convinced himself that he had done the right thing.

...

Mika blushed and felt her cheeks going red when she walked into the bedroom the next day. Madara was lying on the bed with a seductive grin on his face and a pair of black pajama pants on his muscular body. He patted the bed and raked her thin frame with his lustful eyes, clearly intent on charming her into submission.

"Um, hello Madara," she blurted nervously and gave him a sheepish smile. Her mind went uncharacteristically blank and she had no idea how to react.

"Good evening, Mika," he replied and his voice went a few tones deeper than usual, causing shivers to go down her spine. She stood unmoving so he climbed off the bed and came to stand in front of her. Her eyes were averted and she was avoiding looking at him. Instead, her attention was glued to the pattern on the mahogany rug.

"Mika, you remember that I'm leaving tomorrow morning, right?" he asked and put a hand on her chin, gently nudging her to look at him.

She nodded and gave him a sad smile before saying, "I wish you didn't have to go."

His arms wrapped around her waist and he drew her into a close hug. Mika's cheeks burned when she felt her hands come in contact with his chest. He was her husband, but since she didn't remember any of their previous interactions, this was all so new to her.

"I'm going to miss you," he continued and rubbed gentle circles on her back. She closed her eyes and let herself bask in the feeling of acceptance.

Then, he pulled back slightly and put one of his hands on her cheek. Mika innocently gazed into his eyes and a tiny smile was present on his face as he leaned down to give her a chaste kiss on the lips. She did nothing to push him away so he ran his tongue along her lips, wordlessly asking for entrance.

Entangling her hands in his hair, she opened her mouth and for the first time that she could remember, they shared a passionate token of marriage. He growled in approval and pushed her into the wall to deepen the kiss. She was a little surprised by the gesture, but then again, this could be perfectly normal. His hands roamed her body and he leaned down to leave a trail of feverish kisses on her collar bone. Mika bit her bottom lip when she felt a moan trying to escape her.

Suddenly, all she could see was white and a charring pain seared through her mind. She froze and her jaw slackened; the pain was so intense she could not move. Then, as quickly as it had come, the ache was gone and she saw that she was back in the bedroom.

Mika flinched when she felt Madara's hand on her forehead and heard him say, "You look pale. Is everything alright?"

She opened her mouth to tell him about the pain, but the memory was as vague as a film of milky dew on a lawn. Instead, all she could think about was that he was delightfully close and more undressed than she had ever seen him.

It was her turn to grin because she gently removed his hand from her forehead and held in it her own. Standing on the tips of her toes, she placed a kiss on his concerned visage.

"I'm perfectly fine," she breathed as she put his hand on her breast and continued, "Remind me what it's like to be your wife."

Smirking, he wrapped his free arm around her waist and twirled her toward the bed. She felt an overwhelming sense of nervousness course through her veins when he laid her down on the plush bed and straddled her. His confident smile made her heart beat faster and in a leap of faith, she decided that she had no reason to be nervous if he was here with her.

He unzipped her sweater and within second, the article of clothing was lying discarded on the floor. Mika could tell he was growing impatient because he nearly ripped off her pajama shirt. In an almost hungry manor, he started biting and sucking her exposed flesh. His hand crawled behind her back and he was about to unhook her bra when her heart skipped a beat and her face became completely drained of its blood.

She looked like a statue and he cautiously waved his hand in front of her eyes to see if he could get any sort of response. However, despite the fact that her eyes were open, she was seeing an image of a world that she had not ever known existed.

Mika felt herself being thrown forward and she was suddenly on the floor. Her cheek was numb and she could barely recognize her surroundings. She was currently in a large cave-like room with a wall of weapons on one side. A tall, shadowy figure was approaching her and she realized that he was the reason she was on the ground. However, she had no idea what she was doing in this strange space. Wasn't she just with-?

"Remember who you are talking to, wench," a male voice sneered and with wide eyes she realized that it was Madara. She was about to ask him why he hit her, why his hair was so long and why he was wearing a mask, but all of a sudden, he kicked her in the stomach. She could feel blood going up her throat and a wave of pure terror burned her mind. Why was her husband being so cruel?

Then, all she could hear was screaming. She was now in a smaller room and Madara was standing in front of her with a knife. Looking down, she nearly lost her mind when she saw her arm lying on the floor. A fresh scream ripped through her throat as the rest of her limbs were severed. As she writhed and cried out, he did nothing and for one terrifying moment, she truly thought she was going to die. There was something inaudible said and that was when she realized that she was saying something. Just as Madara drew back his cleaver, she realized it was a memory.

"Stupid bitch. You deserve to suffer," he stated and with no hesitation what-so-ever, severed her head. Mika's eyes widened and as she felt that she was falling, she remembered she had heard the same words earlier in another dream. Yes, this was definitely a memory. Her panicking resumed when everything went black.

When she found herself in yet another poorly lit room, she was confused to have all of her limbs back. Madara was in front of her and she could see his blood red eye. Sharingan. With a numb sense of recognition she understood that the last scene had been in genjutsu. How could she have forgotten something so important?

While she was thinking, her body had moved of its own accord and in an exchange of blows with Madara, she was now against the wall. Once again, she was going to try and ask why he was doing this to her, but he stabbed both of her legs, and then sliced her stomach. Her eyes went wide and a sickness lurched through her stomach when she realized that he was the one who was responsible for her scars. The story about the kidnapping had been a lie.

"I won't give you the satisfaction of killing me," she heard herself say in a weak, hoarse voice. Her arms moved by themselves and she grabbed Madara's weapon before pulling it straight into her heart. As she relived the fatal wound, she truly hoped that this was also a part of the genjutsu. The image of the stitches around her heart came back to her and with a hopeless sense of despair, she realized that this had actually happened.

In a flurry of movement, she saw the next few days fly by. The loneliness of the days when she had been alone with barely anything to eat made her remember what it was like to be depressed. Then, when she felt the sun hit her face after she had managed to break out of the cave, she nearly burst into tears. The blurriness took over once more and within moments, she was back inside the bleak tunnels.

"I don't care! How could you kill all those innocent people! You really don't have a heart!" she announced and she felt a pained sense of betrayal when she recalled that Madara had massacred the entire Uchiha clan. Suddenly, Madara twisted her around roughly and shoved her against the nearest wall. Her growled and tore the mask off his face and threw it to the ground. Mika gasped and he sneered, "Yes I do!"

Then, before she even knew what was happening, he crashed her lips onto hers. Their first kiss. In another burst of light, things escalated and:

"You belong to me, woman, so don't you dare resist me," he growled and pinned her hands above her head. She felt terror like never before and her shattered heart nearly cracked when he nearly forced himself on her. It was no surprise she began to cry.

In the next scene, her body was starved and exhausted to the bone. Her limbs were numb, but she could not stop to rest because she had a list of chores to complete. Sourly, Mika noted that she was not his wife, but merely his maid. Things went dark and she nearly gasped when she saw Madara's angry face looming over her.

"On your arm, write the words 'I will stay awake' with that knife," he sneered and the final piece of the puzzle snapped into place. He was the reason for her injuries, her nightmares and she considered it safe to assume that he was also responsible for her memory loss. A deep, decade long hatred churned in her heart and at that moment, she knew she would never be able to forgive him for what he had done to her.

A blinding light covered her view and in a split-second, she was back in the bedroom. Madara was above her and he was scanning her face. Her eyes narrowed and all that loathing came to a head as she sneered, "Get off me you sick, lying son of a bitch."

_**To be continued...!**_

There- Mika has _some_ of her memories back. However, the absence of the majority could be a little dangerous. Any thoughts?


	21. The Confession

Mika finally has a chance to speak her mind! However, she has no memory of how to use ninja techniques and the lack of training is making her weak. Hm, what a recipe for disaster.

_**Chapter 21- The Confession.**_

"Get off me you sick, lying son of a bitch," Mika sneered when for the first time in a long time, she remembered the truth of her imprisoned presence. Madara's eyes narrowed dangerously and in a second, he had both of her hands pinned to the bed.

"What did you say?" he asked in a tone of warning.

Mika's fists became clenched and she hissed, "You heard me, you disgusting liar. I don't know what you did to make me forget, but I remember everything you did to me. _You _are the reason I'm a canvass of scars!"

For a second, Madara was speechless so she took advantage of the situation and pushed upward with all of her might. She was about to break free from his grasp when he snapped back into reality crushed her resistance with his chakra. Her wrists went limp and stabs of pain shot up her arms, causing her to grit her teeth.

"If that's so, then surely you remember I won't let you get away that easily," he replied with a frown. The night had been going so well until then and he was not pleased to have the mood ruined.

"I don't care! I won't let you take advantage of me anymore! I'm not your wife so get your filthy hands off me!" she yelled and continued struggling, even though it only made things more painful.

He was about to say something when she let out a monstrous scream and consciously started to activate her chakra shield. However, since she did not actually remember how to use the technique, her chakra was unstable. Madara knew what was about to happen so he let go of her, but she lost control of her energy and it erupted violently. The force of the explosion threw her to the floor, while Madara was able to land gracefully by the foot of the bed.

Mika staggered into a standing position and wiped blood off her face. Her entire body felt sore, but that was no surprise since she had not been training for a full week. Small cuts were itching her skin and she decided not to use that technique again until her full memory came back.

The elder Uchiha took a step toward her so she hastily glanced behind her and said, "What are you going to do to me? Make me loose my memory again? Torture me? Kill me?"

Madara sighed and stated, "I will not hurt you unless you resist."

Shaking her head, she retorted, "More lies. I've had _enough_ of you trying to pull wool over my eyes. I'm done with you, Madara."

He was going to say that he would never let her go when she turned around and with a burst of chakra, smashed through the bedroom window. Outside, it was pitch black and she could barely tell what was going on as she tumbled down the cliff side. Unfortunately, she had miscalculated the distance of the jump so instead of landing on horizontal ground, the nearly vertical cliff was her point of impact. On top of that, the glass from the window had slashed even more injuries on her skin and the stone hard cliff was battering her body with bruises.

Somewhere, she remembered that ninjas could use chakra to hold onto upright surfaces. Gathering chakra into her hands, she seized hold of an outcrop. Though, the momentum of her previous motion made her loose her grip and the power of jagged rock ripping her flesh made her let out a sharp scream.

Her head came in contact with yet another rock and her sense of up completely escaped her. Pain was bursting in her mind and she thought she was going to go unconscious when she suddenly collided with a completely flat surface. At first, she thought it was a rock, but when two arms wrapped around her, she realized she was not that lucky.

"Do not struggle," Madara said as she understood that he was standing at a ninety degree angle to the cliff-face. So she had been right, ninjas could use chakra to hold onto surfaces. A shudder went down her spine when she felt hot, sticky blood coating her from head to toe.

Madara also noticed her injuries because he muttered, "Why did you have to be so reckless?"

She groaned when he took a step up the wall and tried to gather some of her previous strength. The images of her brutal torture flashed back into her mind and she felt complete repulsion to the man carrying her to the place she once called home.

"So this is it, my grand escape," she whispered hoarsely before coughing up blood. A wave of shame swept through her when she vaguely recalled that she once used to be a great ninja. She used to able to fight. But now...

Suddenly, something in her mind clicked and she knew what she needed to do. Unstable chakra could be manipulated in a way that it would explode and if were able to do that, she would be able to escape.

Shakily, she put her bloodied hand on Madara's chest and she was about to pour her chakra out when he grabbed her hand and said, "Do you really think you would be able to fool me twice using the same trick?"

Flinching, she tried to wrench her hand out of his grasp while he continued, "Did I not make it clear enough that you are not to resist me?"

Then, before she could plead her case, he jumped up to the surface and shoved her against the wall of their house. Even though it was unbearably dark, when she looked into his eyes, she could see the crimson red Sharingan of a heartless captor.

"This is a perfect chance to teach you a lesson, Mika. I was nothing but nice to you for the last week so don't you dare blame me for hurting you now. After all this time, you should know the consequences for going against me," the elder Uchiha threatened as he pressed himself up against her.

The breath was forced out of her lungs when he crashed his lips onto hers. She let out a muffled scream as he bent down and bit her neck. His hungry, human teeth tore at her fragile skin and left a morbid wound in their wake. There was no denying it; Madara could not be her husband. He simply didn't have the heart to be.

She tried to push him away as his hands trailed up her tattered body, but he did not take it well because he grabbed her by the neck and cut off her breathing completely. With an open mouth, she yearned to suck precious oxygen in.

No remorse was evident in his tone as he said, "You always were a slow learner."

In a flurry of movement, she was suddenly flying through the air. Her first response was to draw in a deep breath, but the instant she realized she was plummeting down the cliff again, she used that air to let out a horrified scream. Since Madara had thrown her, she was far from the walls of the canyon and there was nothing she could use to impede her fall.

Mika's muddled mind scavenged for a plan, though, it was all in vain because moments later, she collided with rushing water. It was so cold and unexpected that she nearly gasped underwater. Sheer luck allowed her to hold onto her breath before she reemerged at the surface of the racing torrent.

Her arms and legs weakly protested against the current, but the flow was too much for her. Like a flag in a hurricane, she was swept downstream with absolutely no way to resist the brutal force of nature. When her head wasn't bobbing under the water, she was able to see jagged rocks prodding out. This served simultaneously as good and bad news since it was great if she could hold onto one of these rocks, though it was terrible if she smashed into it instead.

A wave swept her beneath the air again and her heart skipped a beat when it donned on her that if this continued, she would drown. Was this the lesson Madara was trying to teach her?

Her chakra was almost gone and as she spotted a somewhat flat rock, she knew it was her last chance to save herself. Kicking hard with her feet, she propelled herself in the direction of her one hope and her hands shot out. Mika felt an overwhelming sense of relief when the solid stone came in contact with her stomach. She was going to pull herself up, but the river had other ideas because a sudden wave rose over the rock and pushed her to the back of the stone rather than the front. The current was now working against her and her grip was quickly diminishing. As she desperately clawed at the stone, her heart let out a dull ache when she saw a pair of shoes land in front of her.

"Pathetic. You can't even save yourself," Madara spat and she felt like bursting into tears. The frigid ice temperatures of the river were making her legs go numb and all the effort of staying afloat caused her already injured limbs even more pain.

He crouched, glared into her pleading eyes and continued, "I can save you if you swear never to do anything that displeases me again."

A sob escaped her lips and she barely managed to say, "You know I can't do that."

She could do nothing as he snatched her hands and separated them from the stone. Pure, unmitigated terror seized her whole mind as for one, wretched second; she actually thought he was going to send her rushing to her death.

"That's too bad," he said as he yanked her out of the water and onto the stone. She drew in a sudden breath and clutched to the boulder as if her life depended on it. Feeling like a drowned, half-dead rat, she risked a glance at Madara, who was looking down on her with something akin to impending fury.

Mika barely had a chance to recover before he wrenched her up by her hair and crushed her toward him with his other arm. She was so lightheaded she barely noticed as he jumped up and emerged at the altitude of the house once more.

"Since you refuse to submit, I have no choice but to erase your memory and leave you with absolutely nothing to remember," he said in a tone that almost implied that he didn't want to turn her back into a drugged zombie. A sense of hopelessness washed over her as he dragged her back into the house and into the living room.

Gathering her courage, she begged, "You don't have to erase my memory again. Can't you just lock me up in a jail cell?"

Though it would be terrible to be confined in a bleak cell, she would rather retain her knowledge than be a brainless puppet. There was a large blotchy bruise on her right cheekbone and blood was trickling down her cracked lips when Madara gently stroked the side of her face.

"This isn't how things were supposed to turn out," he stated as he looked over his handiwork: her broken body.

Recognizing that his anger was dissipating, she cautiously whispered, "Then how were things supposed to be?"

He sighed and closed his eyes, acknowledging only for a moment that he had made a mistake. Opening his eyes, he searched her face for any signs of the affection Mika's eyes used to have.

"You don't remember do you?" he asked, only to get confusion as a response.

"Seven years ago, we rode a hawk all across the ninja world together. Four years ago, I took you to the crystal caves of Lightning country. Last year, we spent a week on an uninhabited island. Don't you remember any of the good times?" he said, but still, none of his words meant anything to her. All she could recall was the arduous torment and the sadistic captivity.

His eyes lost their softness and he said, "Then you are not Mika."

It was as if a knife stuck right into her chest and she was frozen by the harshness of what he said to her.

"I won't be Mika either if you delete all I know. But if you keep me like this, I will eventually remember our time together. Please, don't kill me again," she finished and her last comment made him let go of her and turn around. His back was toward her and with nothing else to hold onto, she felt her knees start to shake. The injuries reminded her of their existence and her vision became blurry.

Her bottom lip quivered and her legs gave way as she fell to the ground. Still, Madara did not turn around. A hacking cough broke though the silence and she was disappointed to see that blood traversed up her throat. If the injury was as serious as she thought it was, the internal bleeding could be the end of her.

The elder Uchiha was soundless as he marched over to a cupboard, opened it and drew a medical syringe from within it. When Mika saw the pointy object, she gasped and crawled backwards.

"You brought this upon yourself. If you hadn't fought back when you remembered, I might have let you recover completely," he said, void of emotion. His calm, fluid steps reduced her mental clarity into dust and she began shaking.

"If you're really going to do this, just tell me why you're doing it. Is the reason the war? Or do you just want to live a perfect life with me because you can't make it work in real life?" she pleaded and when he did not reply, she continued, "You're about to erase my existence, it's not like I'll be able to tell anyone."

He crouched in front of her and reached for her arm so she blurted, "Please Madara! After causing me so much pain, you at least owe me this much!"

"It's complicated," was all he said as he positioned them in a way that made her back come in contact with his chest and his arm wrap around her waist. She struggled feebly, but his grip was that of iron.

The blood loss was making her desperate and she didn't even think as she said, "You like hurting me, don't you? If you drug me, you'll have to go back to pretending to be a loving husband."

After a dry laugh, she continued, "Wouldn't you rather keep me around as a punching bag for when you're stressed out? I remember you used to smile when you saw my bleeding body."

Madara paused and his eyes trailed along her dripping wet, limp, red body and he could not imagine being pleased by such a sight. Things had changed.

"Or maybe you would like to keep me around for the sex instead? I know you like it rough," she tried from a different angle and that time, he could tell that she was not herself. Mika would have rather died than submitted in that way.

"Be honest!" she exclaimed suddenly, "You were bored by my blank, stupid wife personality so why would you want to have to deal with that again?"

His needle-possessing hand became raised and instantly, she chattered, "I can be really entertaining! If you want, I can put on performances for you. Or maybe you like a slave better? I could do all of the cleaning and the cooking! You can feed me as little as you like!"

Her words revealed just how desperate she was and he felt the tiniest bit of remorse flutter in his chest.

Realizing that her words were having no visible impact on him, she switched tactics and yelled, "Fine! Drug me you damn escapist! Destroy all that is left of me so that you can feel satisfied in your pitiful life! I hope you loose the war and some heartless moron makes you forget what you've worked for your entire life!"

The needle entered her arm and she flinched, but it was too late. He pressed the end of the syringe down and as the toxin entered her blood stream, she felt a burning sensation. Her heartbeat quadrupled, though, she nearly forgot how to breathe.

With a shuddery breath, she whispered, "You've killed me."

"You'll wake up in a couple of days," he corrected, and that was the moment her final threads of sanity snapped. She shook uncontrollably and small wails come from her lips.

"It doesn't matter! My body will wake, but I will be dead! And I'm not even Mika! She died the first time you stabbed her with a needle!" the distraught female announced.

"How could you be so cruel? Hurting me is one thing, but this is just inhumane," she continued as tears streamed down her face. Part of her wished the drug would take over and end the slow process of mental death, while the other part wanted time to stop so she could pour her heart out.

All Madara could do was watch as the woman he had come to care for so deeply broke down in his arms. Apprehensively, he gave her hand a light squeeze, but that only made her weeping increase.

"I don't want to die! Please tell me there is some way to reverse the effects!" she pleaded and tightly held onto his arm.

"I'm sorry," he said and a fresh surge of anguish swept over her, causing her to cry out.

"No you're not! You don't have a heart! You can't care for anyone else except for yourself! How can you possibly live with yourself?" she continued yelling, but her voice was starting to fade and the darkness was coming for her mind.

"You're a monster. But I..." she trailed off and whispered, "I actually thought you loved me."

With those words, her eye lids drooped and the last signs of life escaped her eyes. Her chest rose steadily, but for the second time, he had to admit he killed her. Madara put the needle down and buried his face in her hair, tightly pulling her closer.

When the gravity of what he had just done finally sank in, he whispered, "I do."

_**To be continued...!**_

Yet again, Mika is swept behind the barrier of chemicals. Will they ever get to be together for real?


	22. The Revival

Finally, an update! I apologize for the delay, but my lazy, procrastinating mind was begging me to go outside instead of sitting and typing like an antisocial hermit.

_**Chapter 22- The Revival.**_

With oblivious gentleness, the morning sun crept over the horizon and cast its radiance across the barren, rocky land. The yellow shimmer reflected off the cascading waterfall and lit the canyon in surreal shades of color. One lone house was nestled along the cliff-side and at the front of the living room window, a smiling female threw the blinds open. Her mouse brown hair extended along her weak frame and stopped at her waist, making her look even more vulnerable.

She took a deep breath and grinned at the idea of spending the day peacefully staring at the waterfall. Though the occasional pang of loneliness ached her soul, she had confidence that her husband would return home safely. She was also certain that she was absolutely safe in the confines of the walls. Madara had assured her that there was nothing to be worried about.

Though, to be safe, she did have a distress signal in her pocket. Her instructions were to set it off in the event of anything suspicious. Trying to be a good, obedient wife, Mika sat on a comfortable pillow and gazed out the window, intent on noticing any abnormalities. This was the way she had spent the last two months. With the exception of the occasional visit from Madara, nothing eventful ever happened.

That is, until the fateful day Uchiha Itachi returned.

...

"Mika, come here, there are no guards or traps," an urgent voice disturbed the confused female from her nap. When she opened her eyes, she let out a horrified scream when she saw a man with medium-length black hair and red eyes staring at her through the living room window. She could scarcely believe what she was seeing; this was the first person in her presence other than Madara.

Her eyes darted to the dagger on the man's waist and she shot up in alarm. The enemy had arrived. The man's eyes narrowed at her actions and he continued, "Mika, what are you waiting for?"

Wide eyes met his calm, cool ones as he hoped that she was only putting on a performance.

"How did you know my name? How did you find me? Madara said I would be safe!" she yelled, while backing away from the window slowly. Fear and uncertainty wavered her tone and when he saw her deer-like posture, he knew no acting was playing a part of the scene.

A flicker of regret flashed in the man's eyes and he muttered, "I was too late."

He stood up and placed his hand on the glass, which caused her to pull out the distress signal and announce, "I'm warning you, if I press this button, my husband will come here and you will be in trouble. This is your last chance to get away from my home."

There was a bit more confidence in her voice, but he could tell that she was still merely a shadow of the Mika he used to know. Shaking his head, the man countered, "I don't want you hurt you. All I want to do is talk. Aren't you lonely here?"

She paused and lowered the safety device as she asked, "You're lying, aren't you? Why should I trust you, the enemy?"

"Because if I really was the enemy, you would have pulled the trigger the moment you saw me," he said and looked her right in the eyes, as if searching for something in her soul. Come to think of it, Madara looked at her like that sometimes.

He took her pause to continue, "May I come in?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but did not know what to say. Part of her longed to welcome the stranger, if only just as a chance to talk about how Madara's offensive was progressing. However, another part of her felt it would be dangerous to be associating with anything. It was as if she knew that her following actions would lead to disastrous consequences.

Hesitantly, she inched toward the window and put her delicate hand on the handle. Taking a deep breath, she compromised, "I'll only let you in if you leave your dagger outside."

Nodding, the man pulled the sheathed weapon out of his sash and placed it on the ground. With a weak smile, she opened the window and let the strange, somewhat familiar man walk into her abode. His movements were fluid and un-alarming, but when he came to stand in front of her, she still felt terribly awkward.

"So, what's your name?" she blurted when she could no longer take his piercing stare on her visage.

"Uchiha Itachi. I am on the special forces in the army," he said, though, he did not specify which side of the battlefield he was referring to. At the mention of the army, her shoulders relaxed and a polite smile formed on her features.

"How is my husband's side of the army fairing?" she asked and her eyes lit up in hope. She truly wanted Madara to win.

The younger Uchiha paused at her mention of Madara as her husband before he stated, "Right now, he is winning more battles than loosing. However, one of his plans backfired and the Allied forces are quickly wiping out members of his army."

Her face fell and she whispered, "I'm sure he'll turn it around. He always does."

Itachi did not say anything else on the matter and asked, "How long have you been here?"

"Two months, as far as I can remember. Madara said I've been here for a longer amount of time, but because of my head injury, I can't remember," she said with a shrug, her posture becoming more leisurely. She probably didn't even know that her body recalled being comfortable around him.

"What brings you here? Shouldn't you be fighting on the offensive?" she asked before he could pry any more information out of her.

"I'm here on an important mission. One of my soldiers went missing and I'm here to get them back," he said and took a step toward her, causing her to furrow her brow at the gesture.

"Good luck, but you better hurry. Madara told me that in those cases, time was the most important part of the equation," she said with a smile. She was happy just to remember what he had told her a month ago.

Itachi's eyes became downcast and he placed his hand on her chin gently. She gasped, yet she did not pull away.

"Except, I was too late. The enemy got my fellow fighter and now, I can barely recognize them," he said as crimson red orbs met hers. Her heart beat loudly in her chest and restless butterflies clawed their way up her throat, making her temporarily loose her voice.

"I'm sorry, Mika, I couldn't rescue you," he finished and she stopped breathing. The information connected in her head and when she realized just what his words meant, she went limp. The distress signal slipped from her fingers and clattered against the wooden floor.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Itachi's eyes narrowed and before she could even react, he pulled her against his chest with his arm. Their glances shot to the floor, where the distress signal had activated itself as a result of the sudden impact. The younger Uchiha wasted no time because he whipped a bracelet out of his pocket and forced it onto her wrist. Her also took out a scroll and bit down on his thumb, ready to spread blood on the parchment and activate it.

She opened her mouth to ask what was happening when suddenly, a massive, soul-crushing chakra swirled into the room. A deep, threatening voice growled, "Uchiha Itachi, how dare you show your face in my home."

Mika craned her neck and from the corner of her eye, she saw her husband, clad in his war costume. A mask with three holes concealed his face and a set of black, fitted garments covered the rest of his body. His chakra was flaring around him and he was poised to attack.

"You have two seconds to let go of Mika and prepare to have your life ended," Madara sneered and took a step toward them when Itachi's blood-covered finger came in contact with the scroll.

"I will never let you have Mika again," Itachi said as the scroll floated around them and a blue light began to engulf them.

Realizing what was happening, Mika started struggling and stretched one of her arms in her husband's direction. He lunged toward her and right when their hands were about to touch, she stopped being a part of his dimension.

"Madara!" she screamed and the last thing he saw was her pleading, desperate face. Narrowing his eyes, he focused on her chakra and tried to track its new location. He frowned when he could not find a single trance of it.

Impossible.

Switching tactics, he tried to find Itachi's chakra, but his frown only deepened when that attempt failed as well. At that moment, he realized he had actually lost her. Rage welled up inside him and as his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan activated, he vowed he would kill Uchiha Itachi.

...

"Why did you bring her here? She's completely hysterical and you know the soldiers need their sleep," Itachi's commander stated as the two watched Mika cry out to be released.

"Besides, the way she keeps calling for Madara is demoralizing. Shut her up or I can get one of my men to do that for you," the authority continued before shaking his head and walking away.

Itachi sighed and approached Mika's cell, where she was holding onto the bars and staring back at him with anxious eyes.

"You lied to me! You're the enemy after all! Take me back to my husband!" she yelled and a sense of hopelessness washed over her. Wouldn't Madara have come for her already if he knew where she was?

"Mika, you may not understand it now, but what I am doing is for you. I'm here to help you get your memories back and when you do, you will know just why this is happening," Itachi explained.

She frowned and opposed, "Why don't you just tell me what I need to remember?"

"If I did, you would never believe me," he stated bluntly and it was the truth. If he told Mika that Madara had killed all of her allies, she would never accept it. Besides, in the state she was in, it could trigger a mental breakdown and that was not something he wanted to see happen.

"Of course I wouldn't believe you! You're my enemy!" she resumed screaming.

"No, I am your friend," his unwavering, assuring voice said as his eyes pierced hers. Wincing, she crossed her arms and looked to the side.

"Now, come, I have someone for you to meet," Itachi said and opened the door to her cell, gesturing for her to walk out. Giving him a suspicious glance, she stepped out and followed him through the maze of tunnels. That was when she was able to deduce that they were at some sort of underground base. After a bland fifteen minutes of wandering, they stopped at a partially open, earthen door.

Itachi knocked three times and after a short pause, a tall man with long black hair, yellow eyes, pale white skin and thin lips came to the door. Upon noticing her, the snake-like man gave Itachi a nod and then opened the door wider for them to come in.

"I'm surprised. Your plan actually worked," the unfamiliar man told Itachi as they both looked her over, causing her to frown.

"That does not matter. What matters is her mental state. Madara did something to make her loose her memory, can you fix it?" Itachi replied and she opened her mouth to defend her husband, but something about the tone of Itachi's voice made her reconsider.

"Poor thing, she thinks she's been kidnapped, doesn't she?" the yellow-eyed man started with a smirk, then continued, "Then let me introduce myself. I am Orochimaru."

She gave him a weak smile as he led them over to a metal table and told her to sit on it.

"I need to take a blood sample before I can figure out what sort of drug is causing your memory loss. Rest assured, I doubt it's anything permanent. Best case scenario, I can get you back to your former self in a week," Orochimaru said as he drew a needle and approached her.

Mika offered him her left hand; though, she did not know why she was being so trusting. It was probably because she felt that what the two males were saying had some truth to it. After all, if they were truly her enemies, wouldn't they have injured her or chained her down?

Itachi placed his hand on her right one and gave it a light squeeze. The tiniest hint of a smile was on his lips and her heart wrenched painfully in her chest. For the first time in a long time, she actually felt like she was home. The thought made her stop and narrow her eyes; hadn't she felt at home with Madara?

Orochimaru finished collecting the sample of blood and assisted her back down on the ground.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked as they were about to walk out of the door.

"You owe me a fresh corpse," he answered honestly. Her eyes widened, but he chuckled at her bewildered expression.

"You'll remember in due time. For now, Itachi, make sure she drinks plenty of fluids," the snake-like man said with a side-ways smile as he ushered them out.

Mika cast Itachi a confused glance and said, "To be frank, I'm not sure I want to remember what that's about."

...

She was in Hell.

Mika was sure she had accidentally fallen through a crack in the ground and ended up in a world full of nightmares. When she was not re-living the wretched torture at the hands of the man she used to regard as her husband, she was dealing with bone-crushing migraines. Orochimaru had told her there would be side-effects to the medication he was giving her, but she had not expected them to be quite so painful.

She groaned and fell to her knees as another wave of pain tore through her. In reality, she was alone in her tiny, underground, windowless bedroom, but in her mind, she was back at the eastern Akatsuki base with Madara. He was holding a dagger and approaching her; even though she knew she was safe, the terror she felt was one hundred percent real.

The dagger became lodged in her leg and she screamed, collapsing into a shaking, writhing mess on the ground. At moments like these, she truly hated her mind for remembering her horrific experiences in such detail.

Outside of the room, Itachi sighed as he listened to her pained moaning. He wanted to help her, but there was nothing that could be done. The specific drug Madara has used could only be countered in such a brutal way. Clenching his fist, Itachi's chest swelled with hatred for the elder Uchiha.

Mika's crying subsided and he heard movement inside.

"Itachi, I know you're out there," he heard her say and couldn't help but feel a little odd for being caught listening.

"Well? Aren't you going to come in?" she asked from inside, her voice still shaking slightly from the torture she had just endured. He opened the door a crack and found her sitting at her desk, kunai at hand. At first, he became alarmed, but when she gathered her long hair into a fist, he realized the meaning of her actions.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "Madara wanted me to grow out my hair, but now that I remember just who he is, I am going to make sure I do everything against him."

With one clean stroke, she severed her hair and was left with a short, disorderly bunch that came down to the base of her chin. Standing up, she lifted the long stands of hair she used to have and held them up in a determined stance.

"I am Aranuki Mika, a fighter under the Special Forces unit of the Allied Army, and I will _never_ be Uchiha Madara's property again."

_**To be continued...!**_

Mika has returned! At last, Madara has lost his hold on her, but will it last?

Also, if it wasn't clear, the reason Madara wasn't able to locate her and Itachi's chakra was the bracelets.

A quick note on the next update: It will be in two weeks.


	23. The Reality

Hello! Thank you for all the sweet, lovely, funny and meaningful reviews, favorites and alerts. The generous support of the readers blows me away.

_SadisticallyMine_: Yes! Mika has returned- I'm happy too. She does remember the good times, but it's just human nature to always focus on the negative rather than the positive. (Silly humans.)

_Yuti-Chan_: Madara's reaction is... (_censored_) In other words, it's so violent, horrific and psychopathic it can't be described. ;D

_Saki0112:_ Thank you~ I'm glad you like the story. And yes! Victory! I'm absolutely ecstatic that my writing conveys emotion. ^.^

_Joanna Davis_: The ninja world is dreadfully dark, I agree with you there. I just wish I realized that more before I set out to write a love story. Aw, such sweet compliments you give; thank you.

_Jestie Uchiha_: You make me laugh so much! I love how your comments are always so charged with emotion and comedy.

_SilverOrbs13_: It's excellent that the atmosphere has stayed the same- thank you for putting things into perspective and also for the flattering remarks. My feelings for Madara are mixed too. He honestly tries to be nice, but he's too much of a sadist for things to work out.

_ScrewedUpAkatsuki128_: The song you recommended broke my heart. After that, I hastily downloaded it, while also avoiding the temptation to title it 'Falling To Darkness Theme Song.' It's so sad; thank you for suggesting a good old heart-wrencher.

_Freya707_: I agree, it's hard to find an acceptable Madara fic, which is why I obsessively scour for a good read. I'm quite pleased that you like this story. Madara is certainly prone to mood swings and you're right, there was no way Mika would be able to hold him off forever. More M rated parts? *blush* I... I will see what I can do.

_xxyangxx2006_: Your review made me grin from ear to ear. Thank you and welcome to the Madara-is-mean-but-he-can-be-nice-too bandwagon.

Without further adieu, here is the next chapter!

_**Chapter 23- The Reality.**_

The quiet murmuring of the special force's army members instantly halted when Aranuki Mika strode into the meeting room. She offered them a formal smile, but all she received in return was a hard stare. As she made her way to her seat, the eyes of the fighters followed her closely, as if expecting her to suddenly lash out and attack them.

A few whispers resumed when she was seated and she didn't need excellent hearing to know that she was their subject of discussion. Ever since she had been reunited with her allies, she had been watched very closely. Some still thought of her as a traitor, for having been with Madara for so long. Whereas, others pitied her for the torture she had endured.

Regardless, she was treated very differently in comparison to when she first started her crusade against Madara. No longer were people smiling at her, shaking her hand or giving her triumphant accounts of the battle. She was avoided and even though she didn't blame them for having their doubts, she wished there was some way to rekindle her relationship with those she cared about.

That hope of retribution was the reason she was at the meeting room now. Their current leader, Riyouk Takashima, was about to give a briefing on the new mission and she wanted to be a part of the action. Her memories were back full strength and she wanted nothing more than to end all of the pain. So many people had been hurt and it was long overdue for that to cease.

Loud strides were heard coming from the hallway and the mood changed considerably. When the soldiers saw Riyouk march into the room, everyone straightened and there was an air of anticipation. It was silent and every ear was ready to listen for the next commands.

Briefly, Mika wondered if her group members had been that obedient. The thought made her wince, a painful reminder of their untimely deaths. Maybe that was the reason she was evaded; she was one of the two survivors of the massacre, Itachi being the second.

Looking up, she watched as Riyouk sat down at the head of the table. Trailing after him were his head comrades, which included Itachi. The leader met each of the members' eyes and gave a curt nod. Mika nearly smiled, remembering how she used to do the same. However, when his eyes became locked on hers, he frowned slightly and shifted his gaze elsewhere.

Stifling a sigh, she realized Riyouk was also part of the camp that was uncomfortable with her presence. That would certainly make things more difficult, as she needed his permission to join in the battle.

"As you all have heard, in the next few days, we will be preparing for a major assault on Uchiha Madara's base. Orochimaru has been able to confirm the location to be the western Akatsuki base and we believe this is where the Bijuu Sealing Statue is located," Riyouk started calmly and confidently.

"Our mission is to find and destroy this creation. Without it, the masked bastard's plan falls to ruins and he will be unable to resurrect the Ten Tailed Beast. You will be divided into several sectors. Sectors A and B will be on the frontlines, in charge of eliminating any defense fighters around the base. They will serve as a distraction for sector C, which is responsible for forcing a way into the base from the other side of the mountain. Then, sectors D, E and F will go inside through the passage created by sector C," he continued explaining, all the while gesturing to a large map in the center of the table.

"Sector D will destroy any internal resistance and let sectors E and F slip through in the direction of the statue. After that, sector E will be posted around the perimeter of the main cave, while sector F will be in charge of the actual destruction of the statue. Then, sector G will be along with sectors A and B, in case they get an opportunity to get inside from the front. Since this is mostly a decoy mission, the majority of you will be either in sectors A, B or G, while only the elite fighters will be on the other groups," he finished the brunt of the explanation.

There were a few mutters of approval and Riyouk gave his soldiers a hint of a smile. The plan seemed direct enough and they had enough people to carry it through. Without a doubt, there were several risks associated with their plan and failure was a more likely outcome than success. However, under the current circumstances, the plan was their best shot.

"Here are the lists of what sector each of you are in. Your next task is to get into your groups and read the files I have prepared. Later, I will come by and talk over your specific mission details," he finished and there was a flurry of movement as everyone reached for the lists.

Mika paused and waited for the main rush to pass. In the meantime, she reran the speech in her head. It was so short and simple that even the least intelligent members would be able to understand it. Generally, it was just a decoy operation. She tried not to think about how many failed decoy missions she had heard about.

Getting her hands on one of the copies of lists, she searched for her name, expecting to be a part of the distracter teams. She highly doubted Riyouk would allow her any large role in the mission; he probably wanted her to _accidentally_ loose her life in battle.

In spite of this, she frowned when her name was not even on the list. It took her a lot of effort not to crumple the paper and throw it at someone. Instead, she placed the sheet down and paced in the direction Riyouk had gone. She hoped it was all just a misunderstanding, but she could feel her blood boiling at the idea of being forbidden from fighting against Madara.

It was not hard to find Riyouk, as he was surrounded by multiple soldiers who were all asking various questions about the upcoming mission. She knew he noticed her because his eyes flickered in her direction, but he turned away a second later. Shaking her head, she walked to the other side of the group and pushed past as many people as she could.

In a burst, she forced herself between two particularly muscular ninja and nearly stumbled when she came face to face with Riyouk. He rolled his eyes, muttered something to the person beside him and then reluctantly stared down at her. The other soldiers, upon noticing her presence, stepped back slightly.

Not bothering to wait for them to leave she started, "I believe there has been some sort of misunderstanding. I am not on the list."

"Yes, you're not on the list, but that was by design. I have a different task for you. Now that you have your memory back, you are useful in other ways," he replied smoothly, causing her to narrow her eyes.

"Would you care to elaborate?" she asked, but there was a challenging undertone.

"You are the only person Madara has kept close to himself throughout all of this. I will be interrogating you up until I have to leave for the mission. After that, someone else will take over. You may begin making your way to the interrogation room," he ordered at the end. As every word was leaving his mouth, her expression grew more and more displeased.

"I already told you everything I know last week. There is no point to hold me there again," she retorted, narrowing her eyes. For the last week, she had practically been asked to lay down her entire life story. They wanted to know every detail, down to the minute. It had been a horrifically arduous, humiliating process and she had no intention of going through it again.

"There might be something you missed," he replied as calmly as before, but she swore there was the slightest hint of irritation in his voice.

"My time would be better spent fighting. I know that base inside and out. I could easily lead the soldiers to the main cave," she persisted.

Again, Riyouk had a comeback ready as he said, "Orochimaru gave us the schematics of the base and my men are memorizing them as we speak."

She opened her mouth to say that it was a long time since Orochimaru had been there, but one of the many onlookers interrupted, "What did you expect? You were literally in bed with the enemy. You can't be trusted."

The comment made her blood freeze over and at that moment, the reality of the situation hit her right in the face. She had known that the circumstances looked bad for her, but she had not truly understood until that moment. Her heart beat heavily in her chest and as she looked into the cold, unsympathetic eyes of her allies, she felt like a complete outcast.

Shaking her head, she reassured, "No. I can be trusted. Madara took away everything I had and I want him dead as much as you do."

"Is that so? Then will you really be able to stand by as my soldiers rip him to shreds?" Riyouk asked before pointing out, "I don't think you will. You're a threat to the success of the mission."

Then, to make matters worse, he continued, "That is why you are now a prisoner. Guards, take her away."

Mika couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was so stunned by the events that she did not even try to resist as two large, armor-clad soldiers picked her up. As she was dragged along the hallway, she felt completely and utterly betrayed. Her allies, the people she had so desperately wanted to be with again, no longer accepted her. A part of her already shattered heart cracked at the realization that Madara had managed to take yet one more thing away from her.

Panic blossomed at the back of her mind and she frantically scanned the hallway for something to comfort her. As if by fate, her eyes came in contact with Itachi's. She struggled in her restraints and tried to reach over to him, but their grip was as strong as iron.

"Itachi!" she cried, her voice cracking.

However, the Uchiha looked away. She was not sure what hurt her more; the fact that he was unable to help her or the fact that he wasn't even trying to. She closed her eyes and drew in a shuddery breath. Hadn't Itachi promised her she would be safe here?

A blur of moments later, she was thrown into a small, windowless jail cell. Had she been a little less self-controlled, she would have broken down in tears. After all that time spend in prison at Madara's hand, she simply wasn't sure if her psyche would be able to handle any more time confined.

Clutching her knees and curling into a ball on the stone-hard bed, she let the pain ripple through her. When it all came down to it, emotional pain was far more damaging than any physical injury. The door to the jail room clicked shut and darkness swept over her. Part of her actually felt relieved to be in a cloak of night, and the more she thought about it, the more she came to hate that part of herself.

She had changed so much, all because of Madara. Clenching her fists, she almost relished in the feeling of rage swelling inside her. It was so familiar nowadays that she could consider it to be her new state of being. The thought of being forced to sit in the jail cell while the soldiers fought the man she hated with all of her heart made her frown deepen. Her eyes turned dark and she vowed to-

-To what?

With her logic coming back to her, she wondered just what she could do if she broke out. Even if she made it to the western base before the team, she mused about what she would be capable of. She was weakened from a lack of training and even if she was healthy, there was no way she would be able to fight off Madara alone. Besides, if she got there early, she would give Madara the hint that something was approaching. On the flip side, if she got there after the battle, Madara would either be dead or he would be standing among the corpses of her allies, for the second time. The third option was to arrive right in the midst of battle and somehow slip past them and to the front lines.

But then what?

If she managed to break ahead and see Madara, what would she do? The grip on her knees tightened and she felt a sense of weakness upon imagining him standing in front of her. She would probably break down and be captured again, only to endure even more torture. Briefly, she wondered if her itching desire to get to the battlefield was just her insanity bleeding through.

As far as she could tell, a normal person would stay away from the one who hurt them, not try to get closer to them. Maybe after being in such horrific situations for so long, she could no longer make reasonable decisions. Relaxing and leaning against the wall, she wondered if she should just let things play out.

After all, whenever she tried to act on the grand scheme of things, everything went straight to hell. Another tremor of regret shook her when she remembered that Sasuke was still being completely controlled by Madara. She couldn't even dream about how Itachi felt about that.

Her hands dropped to her sides and she let out a loud sigh. Yes, there was no point trying to do anything anymore. Looking to her future, all she could see was a blur. For so long, her life had revolved around Madara and if she were to let him go, it would be difficult to find something else to fill her time.

Suddenly, her chest went tight and she could barely breathe. Simply the thought of never seeing Madara again caused her harm. With a heavy heart, she realized that despite everything, she still loved him.

...

Time was an elusive mistress.

Whenever Mika tried to count the hours, they all swirled into a mess and even a second felt like an eternity. For all she knew, maybe a second was indeed forever. The darkness never changed, but her eyes were constantly playing tricks on her, making her think the malevolent shadows were shifting. At one point, she was certain she had even felt something touch her.

When her boredom was at the maximum, she gently traced the outline of her bracelet and wondered if she should take it off. If she did, Madara would instantly know her location and without a doubt, he would come to steal her away. During those dark times when her mind craved human interaction, she wondered if the torture would be worth it.

She had even come up with a whole argument for the action. The soldiers had gone a day ago, with the exception of a few guards, so even if Madara came, he wouldn't be able to kill that many people. Another part of her suggested that she remove the bracelet as a distraction, so that the soldiers would have more time to destroy the statue. Most of her muddled mind wanted to see him for another reason, though.

Mika missed him.

With nothing but time to think, she was constantly re-winding her experiences with him. It was probably unhealthy, and something only an insane person would do, but she couldn't help herself. So deeply she wanted to go back to the happy times, when she and Madara used to go on romantic vacations or when he used to teleport to her room, just to give her a kiss.

Flinching, she pulled her hand away from the bracelet. Those times were gone and nothing she could do would bring them back. Depression swept over as for the millionth time since her confinement, she accepted the fact that she could never be with him again.

This was how she spent her days, cycling from fragile joy when she remembered the good times to soul-crushing despair when the truth of the matter caught up with her.

"You look a little lonely, what about some company?" a slick, familiar voice said and instantly startled her out of her thoughts. Frantically looking around, she gasped when she saw the tall, pale form of Orochimaru.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she lifted her creaky joins off the bed. She tried to focus her vision on him even more, as part of her suspected her was just a hallucination. However, his next comment made her realize that this was one hundred percent real.

"You have your memory back so surely you remember what you owe me," he reminded, his tongue darting out to lick his lips. Her eyes widened as their deal came back to her; she still owed him Hoshigake Kisame's body in return for Itachi's eye surgery.

"Yes, I remember. Kisame-"

"Is dead," he interrupted flatly and she winced. The shock of the news was not all that great, but she found it hard to know that she would never be able to hear the blue-skinned man talk about his love of pancakes. Itachi probably felt much worse, as Kisame had been his partner and the two of them had been quite close.

"Alright," she started shakily before clearing her voice and continuing, "Who would you like instead?"

Though it was dark, she could clearly see his sharp row of teeth as he grinned and said, "Riyouk Takashima."

_**To be continued...!**_

Cliffhanger! Things are just weaving together, slowly forming the twisted web that Madara envisioned long before this entire mess began.


	24. The Approach

Hello! What does Orochimaru really want with Riyouk's body? How is Madara's offensive going? What about Naruto and Sasuke? And what of Itachi? So many questions... ;D

_**Chapter 24- The Approach.**_

Mika held her breath as she felt the presence of a guard in the vicinity. Through pure luck, the person did not turn her way and merely walked past the corridor she was in. She drew a shuddery breath, and continued along the never-ending maze of tunnels. As she was still in the allies' base, she was by no means safe.

After all, to them, she was a prisoner. At best, she was a source of information about their greatest enemy.

She turned the corner and scanned for chakra, thanking the gods that no one had seen her thus far. In her partially confused state, she did not know what she would do if trouble approached her. Part of her wondered if she would have the heart to attack one of her own.

Narrowing her eyes, she deflected having the make the decision by blaming Orochimaru. The snake-like man had told her that she needed to get Riyouk Takashima's body, but he hadn't promised to help her out of the base. She stifled a sigh when she realized part of it was her fault. Had she went after Kisame right away, things would have been completely different. The wondering of alternate scenarios made her heart ache dully in her chest so she pushed the idea out of her mind. In the current stage, it was best she did no thinking at all.

Several turns later, she had to admit she was lost. This base was quite different from the Akatsuki one and the one she used to have with her organization. The difference was that here, the tunnels branched off at random angles; there was no pattern to the turns. As for in the Akatsuki base, the turns were always at a meticulous ninety degrees.

Stopping for a moment, she wondered if she could find the exit by searching for more chakras. It was her guess that there would be at least one guard stationed there. Concentrating, she scanned the area. Only the faintest blimps appeared on her radar, as all the powerful soldiers had been sent on that fateful mission.

Upon finding the chakra that seemed to be the highest in elevation, she locked onto it and began jogging in its direction. She could have run, but she dared not waste any of her chakra. She was stuck between falling behind by not using chakra, or using it all now and being helpless when it was time to battle. At times like this, she wished she had taken the time to learn a summon.

It was only twenty minutes later that she found her target. The guard was rather short and the armor he wore fit too loosely on him. From a few sideways glances, she could tell he was still only a boy. His light brown hair stuck out in tuffs, appearing rather mature, but the round nature of his cheeks bluntly gave away his age.

She was about to rush out and knock him to the ground when it donned on her that she wasn't planning ahead. If she were to make him go unconscious, he would wake shortly and sent a telepathic message to Riyouk, ruining her element of surprise. Mika glanced at his demeanor again and hated to think of killing him. He was innocent, not even a part of the battle. That only left one option; she had to sneak past him without him noticing.

Picking up a pebble from the ground, she shot it down the hallway, waiting only a moment before the distinct _tap, tap, tap_. The boy's head shot up and he reached for a dagger at his belt. She watched as he inched down the hallway, tense and ready to defend himself.

She moved to dash toward the stairway up, when she was suddenly tackled to the ground. The impact of her entire body against the solid stone floor was a sour reminder of how weak she had become. Her instincts kicked into gear and she bucked, attempting to push off whoever was on her back.

"The prisoner has esc-"

An elderly man with claw-like scars on his face started yelling, but she cut him off with a prompt elbow to the face. Jumping back up, she had just enough time to take a deep breath before the young guard attacked her. She blocked with her hands and dodged the onslaught of the dagger. The elderly man was getting back onto his feet so she gathered some chakra into her legs and jumped into the air, right over the head of the boy. Swiftly after landing, she pushed the boy into the elderly man, causing them both to topple to the floor.

The dagger flew out of the boy's hand and he let out a distressed cry as she picked it up. He was about to call for help when she clamped her hand down on his mouth. His eyes narrowed and he looked like he wanted to struggle, but stayed still because she possessed the weapon.

"Listen to me, I am not the enemy," she started slowly, nearly chocking on her words when she realized she was heading out to demobilize the leader of the allied special forces. The boy's eyes narrowed further and she could see the defiance in them. Sighing, she wished she could use a genjutsu like Itachi in order to make him forget what happened.

As she was thinking about what to do, the boy suddenly pushed her hand away and reached out to punch her with a chakra-filled fist. Mika only had a second to swerve to the side, but his knuckles nicked her cheek slightly. She was about to push him down when he suddenly grabbed her hair, pulling her down with him. There was a mad scramble, as she tried to untangle herself and keep them quiet, and as they tried to put an end to her.

All of a sudden, she felt something warm on her side. At first, she panicked at the thought that this was her blood. Then, when she saw the young soldier's open, unmoving eyes, she froze. She winced as she looked down at her hand and found it holding onto the dagger embedded in his chest. Pulling it out, she wore a mask of deep regret.

Standing up, she noticed the elderly man again. He was trapped under the soldier, unable to move. Upon noticing the dark, crimson stain on her shirt, he looked into her eyes with such contempt that she had to avert her eyes.

"Murderer!" he yelled, but a split second later, his eyes were as hollow as the boy's beside him. She shuddered at her actions, disgusted by how easy it had been to end the life of two allies.

Turning her head from the gruesome sight, she climbed up the ladder. There was no use hiding the bodies, as someone would realize she was gone within a matter of hours. She pushed the stone plate open and gentle blue light flooded her eyes. It momentarily sent shocks of pain billowing through her brain and she welcomed it. She felt like she deserved to suffer.

Covered with the blood of her allies, Mika took the first few steps on the moist, leaf-laden ground. Maybe they had been right; she was a traitor.

...

It was too silent.

For the prime of war, the village on the outskirts of the battlefield was nothing like she had expected. In her mind, she predicted to walk into a bustle of life. The sound of yelling people, trading merchants and preparing soldiers was something she thought she would hear.

However, when the wind was the only singer for the next ten miles, she quickly realized something was wrong. The village was completely abandoned and there was not a single living thing in sight. Perhaps, the soldiers had left early or the village had been deserted before the start of the war. Clothing hanging on clotheslines told her otherwise; whoever lived here had left in a hurry.

Still, part of her decided she was lucky. After all, it would have been quite awkward waltzing into a village covered in fresh blood. She stopped for a moment and wondered how to respond to the unexpected circumstances.

Originally, her goal was to find a village and get some weapons. Now that she was here, she still had to complete that objective. The only setback was that she had to make even more of a monster out of herself. As far as she knew, the only way to find weapons in an empty village was to search each house. Trespassing was not too horrible of a crime, but after what she had done earlier that day, she was apprehensive about doing anything else of the manor.

Shaking her head, she walked into the house directly on her left. It was a simple building, void of any fancy ornaments. The walls were made of logs, as there were many trees in the region, and the interior was painted a gentle beige. She crept along the hallway, ever-weary of any unexpected surprises.

In the first few rooms, she found what could only be described as a normal family setting. There was a crib, a couch, and rocking chair and small table, all in a semicircle around a fireplace. Her heart sank; the last time she had been in a house with her family was fifteen years ago, before her parents died.

Trying to concentrate, she opened every drawer or hollow space in the wall. In the ninja world, even the most family-friendly people carried some sort of defense. After rummaging around the entire house, she found nothing. Stretching briefly, she made it to the house next door, all in hopes of getting those weapons.

After what seemed like an eternity, she was at the last house on that street and all she had was two kitchen knives, a make-shift spear and something that resembled a broken rake. This was, in no way, enough for her to take down a powerful ninja. With her current repertoire, she would have more luck farming.

In one of the previous houses, she had found thick leather and a bit of metal plating, which she then fashioned into armor. It was bulky, heavy and cumbersome, but it was better than nothing. The blood-covered shirt was in the garbage and instead, she had an itchy, cotton throw-over.

As she continued reaching into every crack or crevasse of the house, she felt like a fool. How could she honestly expect to defeat Riyouk if she was uncomfortable, hungry, weak, untrained and basically weaponless?

Sighing, she climbed up the stairs and reached for the knob that opened the attic. Stepping to the side, the pulled the string cautiously, as last time she opened an attic, the ladder fell right on her. This time, she was fortunate because it slid out half-way and got stuck. Pulling herself up, she glanced around the tiny, dusty room.

A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth when she saw a discarded, sheathed sword and a few paper explosives. Crawling over there, she pocketed the paper tags and examined the sword. It was nothing fancy; the handle was a bit rusty and the surface of the sword had some visible kinks. Slipping it into her belt, she climbed down and made her way out of the house.

Mika felt slightly better about the situation and now, she had to take some time to actually plan out her attack. There was no way she could march over to Riyouk and ask him if he could kindly hand over his body in order to help Itachi. She also couldn't rush into the battlefield and attack him while he was in the middle of combat. It would attract too much attention and it would be too difficult to be fighting off enemies while also sparring with him. Besides, she had no intention of letting Madara notice she was present.

That only left one option; she had to play unfair. Somehow, she had to devise a distraction that would lure Riyouk away from the center and then, she could strike. After all those months sitting around, she would not be able to attack him fairly so a trap was in order. It was a lowly thing to do for a ninja, but she simply had no choice. Orochimaru had made it perfectly clear that he could take away Itachi's good health as quickly as it had been given to him.

Then, there was also the setting to take into account. She had to slip past both the enemy and the allies in order to distract Riyouk. It would be difficult enough getting into the battlefield anyhow. Since time was tight, she picked up the few things she had found and started out in the direction of the Akatsuki base.

At first, she thought about taking a farm animal to shorten the amount of time necessary to get there. Though, when she saw that the only animal available was the pig, she decided it would be easier to rely on her own two feet.

She walked out of town and refrained from sighing. Mika could already tell she was walking closer and closer to a disaster.

...

A lurch shook her entire body and she had to lean on the adjacent tree to stop herself from collapsing. Her hand covered her mouth as she held back the bile threatening to exit her being. She simply hadn't been prepared for something quite so _revolting._

In front of her was the battlefield and never could she have imagined the truth of war to be as malevolent as it was. Corpses, rotting and host to parasites, were strewn across the blood-stained, cracked earth. They were unceremoniously split into several parts, each scattered around a puddle of dried maroon. Not a single noise echoed across the land of death, but the open mouths of the victims suggested screams of absolute horror.

Some of them were completely unrecognizable, their faces having been crudely demolished. The only thing she could tell was that _every single one of them_ was from the allies. Forehead bands glittered in the waning light, the engraved word 'shinobi' smeared with blood. It was a mockery of the power of the combined ninja nations.

Far in the distance, she heard the sounds of crows competing for their share of discarded flesh. The thought of going to war a brave ninja, but becoming nothing more than a feast for vermin made her sick.

Shaking, she took a step onto the recently disturbed land. There was a sharp contrast between the serene, tree-filled forest and this earthen representation of hell. She wanted to keep her head high and ignore the senseless carnage around her; yet, she knew that the ninja deserved to have someone to mourn their loss. None of these people were her acquaintances, but the pain in her soul was bordering that of the loss of her entire family.

Why would Madara want to start _this_? Senseless, brutal murder painted a grim scene and it was certainly not a way to go about creating world peace. There was no denying it; Madara was an insane warmonger.

Mika stopped herself from crying out when she nearly stepped on the eye of one of the soldiers. Not far from her foot, lay the rest of the man's insides, carelessly spread out. Her jaw tightened and she closed her eyes. At this rate, she would collapse and her psyche would crack into as many pieces as the piles of mutilated corpses.

She drew in a shuddery breath, regretting it a second later. The stench of oncoming defeat filled her whole being and she became disoriented. Her heart rate increased exponentially and the depths of her mind begged for her to turn back. This was too much to bear.

Shame swept over her and she clutched her shaking shoulders. How could she call herself a ninja if she couldn't even walk out onto the battlefield? She was an embarrassment to all those she wanted to protect. There was no way she could participate in a war to defeat the greatest ninja of all time if she was so weak.

She did not belong here.

After several minutes of picturing Itachi and how it was long overdue for her to repay him for helping her, she opened her eyes. Her breaths were long and shallow, her eyes narrowed and downcast. She could not back down after coming this far.

Part of her suspected that after this entire ordeal was over, she could be incapable of feeling emotion again. That, or she would be in so much pain that her mind would collapse on itself, causing her to commit suicide. Yes, she had a wonderful future to look forward to.

It was only by late evening that she began to notice the signs of life around her. Somewhere to the north-east, she could see the firework of devastating explosions. Bits of the earth surged upward, alternated with walls of water and columns of flame. From afar, it was a spectacular light show, but she knew that the closer she got, the stronger the sense of defeat hung in the air.

The allies were loosing.

_**To be continued...!**_

_/\/\/\/\/\/\/\_

This is Chewy, the heartless, murderous monster. Erm, I mean, my lovely pet. He likes to cuddle. (A.k.a. rip apart flesh with his teeth.) His favorite food is human blood, no, reviews. Please help me feed him!

For those of you not enthralled with the adorable-ness of my pet, what do you think will happen next?


	25. The Awakening

Hello! I give my sincere thanks to all those who reviewed and favorited in the last chapter. By the way, Chewy says hello. That, or he's drooling. Well, he also says he is very glad to know that so many people reached out to talk to him. He loves being called cute. Since he doesn't get out much, considering his murderous nature, your reviews really cheered him up. Thanks everyone~

There's a few things I need to clarify: In this story, Tobi is indeed Madara- none of that "I am no-one" nonsense. Also, since Orochimaru is alive, Kabuto didn't turn all Voldemort and there is no imperial resurrection jutsu working at the moment. It's just Madara with his massive Zetsu army and the remaining Akatsuki vs. the rest of the ninja world.

It seems I have left you Madara-less for too long, eh? Even I'm missing the heartless bastard...

_**Chapter 25- The Awakening**_.

As his maroon red eyes scanned the battlefield, he wore a hidden smirk. Not a single living soul lay ahead of him and his sinister smile grew, relishing in the pride of having killed all those in his path. The images of the allied ninja falling apart in a sea of blood danced on the back of his eyelids, elating his mood even further.

His attack had been flawless. Instead of waiting for his enemies to come to him, he had left the entire base abandoned, instead sending all of his troops to surround and capture the countries neighboring him. Clearly, they had not been expecting it because they left whole cities vacant. He estimated he had displaced nearly half a million people.

By the time the allies and their 'secret' attack had arrived, they were outnumbered and had all of their exits cut off. The slaughter had been tremendous. Men fell like weeds, crying for a god to save them, and then weeping even more upon hearing no reply.

Turning around, Madara strode back in the direction of his base. Though he had wiped out almost the entire sector of the special forces, he still had to deal with the other factions, which were slowly recovering and advancing his way. Considering they were weakened from multiple other battles, he prepared for another landslide victory. Soon, the world would be his and he could set his eyes on more personal goals. After all, Mika had yet to be by his side.

He stopped for a moment, surveying the damage once more. A few hundred feet away from him he could see a writhing, crawling, blood-soaked mass. Approaching the struggling creature, he noted with mild interest that it was one of the few survivors of the battle. The man, wheezing and coughing up black bile, gaped up at him with a look of absolute terror.

"P-Please, I have a family that needs me. I beg of you," the man pleaded.

Caring not for pathetic begging, Madara did a few hand seals and with no effort, engulfed the man in a ball of flame. A smile tugged at the corners of the elder Uchiha's lips as the man screamed, his skin melting and falling off in hideous blotches. This was a wonderful way to start the day.

...

"Sir, you are in no condition to be moving about. Lie back down, I'll get you some more bandages," a woman with a tired, sagging face tried to convince one of the patients in her tent.

The man, prey to multiple injuries and sores, ignored her heed and stood. His first few steps were shaky, but he corrected himself shortly after and straightened his back.

"I have to go," was all he said as he tugged his armor on and tied his bloody, scratched 'shinobi' headband on himself.

"Where could you possibly have to go that's more important than your health? I have to at least change your old bandages," she insisted, badgering over to him and pulling him down by his arm. He frowned, pulling his arm away in a sudden movement. Then, without saying another word, he marched out of the crudely assembled tent and looked around.

It was morning, yet all of the troops were already milling about and preparing for the next battle. He did not recognize the location and there were no actual buildings around so he concluded the entire tent-filled village had been constructed in the middle of no-where. None of the men he saw looked familiar, reminding him of the tremendous loss he had seen the day before.

"Riyouk!" a voice called out to him, gradually getting closer. He turned around and felt the tiniest sense of relief upon laying eyes on one of his soldiers. There was something comforting about knowing one wasn't alone.

"I'm glad to see you made it," the soldier grinned, accidentally showing his cracked lip and fresh black gape of missing teeth.

"Likewise. Have you heard from the infiltration sectors?" Riyouk cut right to the chase.

The soldier pursed his lips and shook his head. They both fell silent and Riyouk tried to think back to the last day's events. They had been attacked much earlier than expected and he was sure they were defeated before the other sectors had even arrived at the back of the base. Sighing, he realized the mission was probably a failure. If the battle ended before they arrived, it meant there was no distraction in place. There was no doubt that everyone was either dead, or had fled deep into the wilderness.

Finally, the soldier's head snapped up and he said, "The army leaders of these sectors said we're going to battle again this evening. We've got all of the remaining soldiers together. Some people are saying it's our final battle. All or nothing."

The soldier continued to chatter about how everyone was healing up, food was being rationed and people were quickly learning various forbidden jutsus. There was no longer a strict law system in place to uphold banishment of those jutsus and some were even considering it as a way to turn the war around. After all, if one was going to die, they might as well use every since trace of chakra to kill as many enemies as they could. Luckily, there were several suicidal jutsu readily available and they required very little training.

Riyouk closed his eyes and dared not let his mind wander to think about the sorry state of things. If forbidden jutsus were being considered, there was no doubt the allies were getting desperate.

He reopened his eyes and looked up the pale blue sky, void of the pain and torment scarring the land. How he wished that at least this one innocent thing would remain untainted. Then again, maybe he was being a little unrealistic.

By then, the solider had stopped talking and was looking up at him expectedly. Clearing his throat, Riyouk hastily gave his thanks for the sharing of information and then left to wander around the make-shift army base. All of his weapons were mysteriously gone and since his chakra levels were low, he knew he had to snag the sharpest thing he could find.

As he turned along the maze of tents and flipped over every box or storage item he could find, he failed to notice two attentive, feminine eyes following him. The woman stopped, crouched behind a pile of food supplies and did the hand seal for 'release'. In a puff of smoke, she disappeared and within seconds, informed her original that the target had been located.

Far way from the meeting of soldiers, a woman grinned, ever so happy that her clone had just found Riyouk Takashima. Releasing the rest of her clones, she stood from her seat on an overturned carriage and dashed in the direction of her goal. It was long overdue for their second and final meeting.

...

The only sound that could be heard was that of marching footsteps. All of the soldiers were silent, lost in their thoughts. Death, in some form or another, was heavy in their minds, either mocking them or warning them to turn their heels and run. Together, there were 30, 000 of them, less than half of what had been originally. On the other hand, the enemy's army was estimated to be holding strong at 60, 000. It was bound to be a slaughter.

A couple of hours into their journey, the setting sun was covered by a flood of cold, grey clouds. Shortly after, they were drowned in a torrent. The ground beneath their feat turned slick, causing many to stumble to their knees. This was not, in any way, a confidence booster.

Closer to the head of the pack, Riyouk trudged through the heavy mud. His eyes were narrowed as he clung to his hatred and desire for revenge. As one of the few survivors of his sector, he was determined to carry the burden of vengeance. There was no word on how his infiltrator teams were doing and it was safe to assume they were now merely litter on the floor of Uchiha Madara's caves.

He clenched his fists and more rage welled up inside him. Even if it was the last thing he did, he was certain he would get his chance to spar with the enemy. His skin was crawling with the desire to spill blood. No one had the right to massacre his soldiers and get away with it.

Meanwhile, at the tail end of the marching troupe, Mika had her head down low as she swerved around the growing puddles of mud. Her toes wiggled uncomfortably, their crevasses filled with sticky mud. It was just her luck that her boots had holes in them. She was clad in proper armor, but it only made her feel worse because she had nicked it from a dead soldier, leaving the poor corpse to lie undignified on the shattered ground.

The better part of her day had been spent to catch up to the army, and then cautiously slip in at the back. Everyone was so preoccupied with avoiding the quick-sand-like ground that she was sure no one knew she was there. Still, nervousness swirled in her stomach and her steps felt heavier than they ought to be.

No part of her was even remotely eager to be heading closer toward the man who had successfully ruined her life. Any affection she had ever felt for him dwindled to a pile of ashes and she had her heart set on never loving that man again. She did not care about 'the heart wants what it wants' rule; she was determined to fight it to the end. After all, if she died loving the enemy, that would be the greatest injustice of all.

Hours ticked by and the weary darkness advanced, making those at the edges of the army paranoid as to what was lurking just beneath the shadows. Some made nervous conversation, while others slinked toward the middle in search of instinctive security. Those that did talk quickly fell into their favorite pastime: gossip. It did not matter that most of the soldiers were men, as everyone had a knack for spreading rumors.

"I heard Madara is a grumpy old man with long grey hair and that the mask is merely covering up his hideous wrinkles," a man whispered somewhere close to Mika.

A woman chuckled and replied, "Really? Well I heard he's lost all of his chakra and that the only thing he can fight with is that creepy statue thing."

Others, having heard the conversation as a result of their proximity, joined in with more outlandish theories. Some believed Madara wasn't even real and that it was all another person pulling the strings. Those that disagreed voiced their opinion that the man was actually Madara's son and that he was trying to take revenge. Multitudes of other rumors arose, each more insane than the last. Eventually, they were just cracking jokes about their enemy.

"Did you see those Zetsu things? They totally have no man parts!" one soldier howled with laughter.

"Yeah! Just like that asshole Madara! He's so old it's probably shriveled up by now!" come the reply and it was followed with more mocking joy. By belittling the enemy, they were getting their minds ready for victory. There was no reason to let their nerves bundle up in a coil of disaster and besides, they wanted to have just the tiniest bit of fun before their certain deaths. Despite their confident smiles, they all knew what was coming.

Mika tried not to listen to their senseless chatter, but one little snippet of a conversation caught her ear.

"I wonder if we'll get to see his bitch," someone said, not too far away from her.

Her head turned ever so slightly and she saw two young soldiers, no more than twenty-three years old. They wore sneers on their faces and each had a cleaver-like sword hanging on their backs.

"What was her name? Mika something? Eh, it doesn't matter. I'm sure she's kissing the bastard's feet right now," the other man replied, spitting on the ground.

"After she escaped, I bet the first place she went was toward him. Bitches like her can never get enough," the first continued, his frown deepening. Mika's shoulders shrunk and she slowed down enough to be hidden by the broad back of a warrior woman. Though they would never recognize her, she had no intention of letting them see she was interested in what they were talking about.

"Yeah. If we see her, we'll gut her and hang her ugly head for everyone to see," one of them elaborated crudely.

"Damn right. But we should fuck her sorry ass first," the first finished with a cruel chuckle, causing them both to exchange knowing smiles. Meanwhile, Mika shivered and felt her face drain of her blood. Was her reputation so bad that even the soldiers wanted her to hang?

She drew in a shuddery breath and concluded that when everything was over, she would disappear. The ninja world was no longer a place she could stay and she knew that trying to clear her name would be useless. Perhaps she would get a small cottage deep in the mountains or maybe, she could take up residence on one of the abandoned islands to the east?

Shaking her head, she tried to focus. She had to keep her senses keen if she wanted everything to go smoothly. Riyouk was not going down without a fight and Madara could be anywhere at anytime. Out of habit, she stroked her metallic bracelet, the same one that allowed her presence to go undetected by Madara. Her entire plan depended on not being detected and she mentally thanked Itachi for having such foresight.

Suddenly, there was a strange tension in the air and everyone stood still. No one said a word, but that was because they could already tell what was happening. As the first fresh screams of battle echoed through the night-covered land, all Mika could do was cling to the idea that one day, she would finally be free.

...

Two tall figures, cloaked in macabre shades of black stood in a large cavern. The backdrop was a towering wooden statue, a scroll tight in its mouth and several closed eyes adorned on its gruesome face.

"Is she coming?" a deep, emotionless voice asked with a blood-red glare. If the answer of the second figure was going to be unsatisfactory, he would have no qualms about painting the floor with said person's bodily fluids.

Not that it would matter much. The floor was already laden with the strewn-apart segments of ninja. The red-eyed man took a moment to recall the afternoon, when he had stumbled upon several batches of allied ninja intruding in his base. He had arrived just in time too, as they were about to set his prized statue ablaze. Instinctively, he reached for his hidden kunai as he remembered ripping them apart and torturing each with his Sharingan just for the sheer pleasure of it. It was a mixture of anger at the fact that they got into his base, but also delight at the actions of being able to butcher them all. That is, all but one.

"Yes. What about you? Do you have him?" came the sly, mischievous reply. A plan such as the one they were constructing needed the utmost cunning and his voice was enough to showcase years of honing that skill.

After scanning the other man's face for any signs of betrayal, the first man replied, "He is in my possession."

In the darkness, a row of shining teeth came into view, grinning at the fortune.

"Now all we have to do is wait."

_**To be continued...!**_

At last, the final battle has begun! Things are going to get much, much more exciting from now on. Any thoughts?


	26. The Masquerade

Thank you to all those who reviewed and favorited! Also, I appreciate your patience. :D

_Yuti-Chan_: I agree with you- I can't get enough of Madara either. That is why I plan to include plenty of Madara action in the coming chapters. This is a story about him, after all.

_Joanna Davis_: Mika's life is always on the line. The poor girl is in so many threatening situations that you may be correct in your prediction. I love the suspense and to be honest, the purpose of the last few chapters has been to make the readers have more and more questions. I hope to keep you guessing until the end ;D

_ScrewedUpAkatsuki128_: It's good to see someone is trying to save Itachi, other than Mika. And it would be lovely to see the villains bitten by Chewy. Creative, I'll give you that.

_Random Person 94_: Thank you~ I apologize that my updates have been lagging lately. I would explain, but I don't want to bore you with the details of my math-induced coma.

_Shapeshifter1_: I am very pleased to hear that you like the story. And you asked a pretty valid question, so I will clear it up: Since Orochimaru is alive, Kabuto is as well. However, he isn't as strong as he is in the manga.

_Dettaarsvenska_: Wow, thank you. I appreciate your sweet comment~

Meanwhile, it's deep during the night and the first attacks have begun. No one knows just what is slithering behind the shadows.

_**Chapter 26- The Masquerade. **_

"Stand together! They will never be able to penetrate our defenses!" one man's voice bellowed through the battle ground, dwarfed by the screams and cries of those already engaged in combat. Explosions sounded nearby, being only a brief source of light in the blinding darkness. It was impossible to tell whether one was a friend or foe, as everyone's faces were shadowed by the night or blackened by fresh blood.

Weapons were clashing all around and the battle was already in full-swing. When it all came down to it, every single member of the army was fighting to save their own skins. The original cause of trying to defeat Madara was long forgotten. There were a few that strived for justice, but if a fatal injury was dealt to them, their last thought was always that they wanted to live.

Moving around was a true travesty, as the rain from before left vast expanses of mud and there was the chance of tripping over a corpse. It was also unfairly difficult to stay in a battle with one opponent. So many soldiers were on the field side by side that they sliced away at everything they saw, not caring for courtesy. Chunks of flesh shot off in every direction and there was no doubt that every soldier was at least remotely covered with the guts of both their allies and their enemies.

Emotion was absolutely gone from the area. All those part of the slaughter had hard eyes and heavy hearts. No man wished to be responsible for worthless murder. What they were doing now would haunt them for the rest of their lives. That is, if they managed to survive.

Amidst the fray, Mika was twisting and weaving between nearby weapons. Her sword was drawn and she blocked when necessary, but chose not to get too involved. After all, she needed all the energy she could get to carry out her plot involving Riyouk.

Right in front of her, a soldier was ripped in half by the hungry arms of the multitudes of Zetsus. She winced and froze, barely having the control to swallow her emotions and turn away from the scene. No matter how much her morals wept, she had to only care for herself. Stepping into combat with a Zetsu was something to be avoided at all costs, as the clones could run to inform Madara. She did not care if she would hate herself for being a coward; she would rather live choked with regret than even catch a glimpse of the elder Uchiha again.

Another explosion went off, momentarily blinding her. At that moment, someone grabbed her from behind and she felt sharp claws tearing at her back. With a frenzied burst of chakra and adrenaline, she whipped around and severed the head of her assailant, a Zetsu clone. Her lower back stung and she cursed herself for letting her guard down. Mika prayed the creature had not been able to recognize her.

Tightening the grip on her sword, she resumed her dash toward the front of the army. The timing had to be perfect and the longer she waited, the more heated the battle would be. Her plan was to disappear before things got too ugly. In other words, when the master of torture arrived, she better get her weak, little hide out of there.

Hazy images flashed past her and this time, when another explosion rocked the ground, she held her ground. Still, there was nothing she could do as a wave of blood splattered her in the face. Crimson liquid lurked into her mouth and she spat rudely, a frown forming on her features. The metallic taste was far too familiar for her comfort.

The ground continued to shake, this time because of a massive wall-of-earth jutsu. Zetsus tumbled down, only to be shot with explosive arrows. A sudden chill went through the air, when one of the Snow Country ninja unleashed a slew of freezing waterfalls, paralyzing everything in their path. Considering the grand variety of ninja in the area, it was not surprising that Mika did not recognize many of the techniques being used. Animal summons raged about, emitting ear-splitting roars with every injury.

Closer to the front of the pack, Mika could easily tell that it was far more intense. The stronger fighters were gathered here, unleashing truly fearsome jutsu. Their faces showed a whole different degree of harshness. After all, for many of them, this was their second ninja war. So deep was their resentment of the disturbance of peace that they no longer cared about the means to achieve stability once more.

And this was the greatest weakness of the army.

Riyouk's rapidly moving chakra was closer so Mika stopped behind a pile of debris and did a few hand signs, successfully transforming to appear like Itachi. Her facade was flawless, proving her devotion to her cause. Riyouk would not be able to resist following Itachi if he saw him and she intended the use that foolish curiosity to her advantage. It was a cheap, dirty thing to do. Mika already knew it was something she would never live down, but her only defense was that she did not have a choice. If they were not in the midst of war, she would have challenged him head on, even going so far as to explain the situation. However, with time slipping between her fingers, she did not have that luxury.

Mika was about to do a circular dash around the area when she noticed something that could jeopardize her plan. Riyouk, panting heavily, was engrossed in a serious battle with the blond bomb artist, Deidara. She sighed, recalling that he had been one of the few Akatsuki members she had grown attached to. Stepping into battle looking as she did was risky and it would arise suspicion from both Riyouk and Deidara. The only thing she could do was-

"Surprise you damn traitor!"

Her heart skipped a beat and she barely had enough time to propel herself away from an oncoming explosion. The force of it shook her stance, causing her to slide in the mud. With narrowed eyes she glared at the source of the trouble, who was grinning at her.

"Itachi, I've always wanted to meet you during battle. It would be a great compliment for me to kill the greatest traitor in Akatsuki history," Deidara stated confidently, his hands reaching for another ball of clay. Mika's face was expressionless, and as such, it appeared that Itachi's was as well. She did not dare say a word and instead, reached for her sword. Someone jumped right beside her and she stepped back defensively, relaxing only a fraction of a degree when she saw that it was Riyouk.

"You came back," was all the leader of the allied special forces said and she nodded curtly. If she played her cards right, she would be able to work together with Riyouk to defeat Deidara, which would make it easier for her to attack Riyouk on her own. That is, if she did not fail to give herself away during the course of the battle.

"You've chosen the wrong side, Itachi. Madara is winning and you of all people should know that. It's too bad you'll be dead before you get to see his victory," Deidara ended off-handedly before throwing a set of smoke bombs. The thick, white smoke made it even harder to see anything and they jumped out before the expected onslaught.

However, the only thing in Mika's mind at the moment was about how Deidara had used Madara's name. Did that mean he had revealed himself to the Akatsuki? Or was that merely a sign that Deidara was a brainwashed puppet that did not know the truth?

She did not have time to mull it over because Riyouk was beside her, explaining a step by step plan to defeat their enemy. Nodding again, she did not bother to question what was being said to her and memorized his words as best she could. They exchanged a quick glance before branching off in separate directions. Her part was to distract Deidara with a set of fireballs, while Riyouk was going to attack from underground. She thanked the stars she could actually perform those jutsus.

No thought went into her actions as she unleashed a scorching ball of flame. It was not as large as the real Itachi's would have been, but it would do. The bright, illuminating torrent shone and for a few seconds, cast the close vicinity in a shade of orange. Unbeknownst to her, the technique was a beacon to all of the Zetsus, who collectively grinned.

Deidara was not fazed by it and with an explosion, he directed the flames away. The enemy wasted no time before retaliating by throwing a small, circular container in her direction. She assumed it was another smoke bomb so when green, twisting channels of gas came shooting in her direction, she did not know what to do. Her instincts took control and she started erecting her chakra shield.

A split second later, she froze with a wide-eyed, panic-stricken look on her face. That was the one technique she could not use or she would be revealed. The shield disappeared and she was immersed with the unusual gas. Her eyes stung and she stopped breathing. The strength was being sapped from her being and she could barely force her legs to start running. Slow seconds ticked by and the sound of her frantic heartbeat was all she heard. Despair withered on her features when she noticed that the smoke was not showing any signs of dissipating. Her knees shook and she let out a weak cry when she tripped over a severed leg, falling to the ground.

She tried to stand up, but she accidentally sucked some of the gas into her lungs, which caused her to go into a coughing fit. Her vision was going blurry, her head throbbed painfully and her lungs burned. For a second, she truly thought she was going to die.

Mika was barely conscious when a pair of arms encircled her and hastily carried her out of the fray. The next thing she knew, she was violently hacking and someone was holding her upright. She felt faint and as her eyes landed on Riyouk's stiff face, she nearly burst into tears. He had saved her life and because of that, she did not know if she would be able to carry out the rest of her plan.

"Do you like it? I invented the gas myself. If he hadn't gotten you out of there, the acid would have burned you right to the bone," Deidara boasted somewhere in front of them, but she did not know where since she was still having a hard time seeing.

"We still have one more shot. We can use the gas to our advantage if you use your chakra shield to surround the both of us," Riyouk whispered into her ear and her blood ran cold. She could not believe that he knew and yet, he had still saved her life.

In response to her wide eyes, he said, "I know it's you, Mika. We have to finish this battle before I'll deal with you."

She was about to say that she wouldn't be able to run when he turned around and gestured for her to climb onto his back. As quickly as she could, she wrapped herself around him and started gathering chakra. Despite the added weight, Riyouk had no difficulty sprinting right into the opaque cloud. The shield surrounded them in a tight bubble, forbidding the deadly acid to reach their skin.

Somewhere in the middle of the toxic mass, Riyouk stopped and did a series of hand seals. Mika's grip on him tightened when the earth in front of them burst vertically into the air, only to condense into a sharp, wave-like mass that shot into Deidara's direction. The displacement of ground was enough to lessen the concentration of the gas, which allowed them both to breathe freely again. Wasting no time, Riyouk let her down and with a few more hand seals, tunneled underground, presumably toward Deidara.

For a set of stained minutes, Mika stood and waited, watching as explosions clouded the sky. She reached for her sword, but when she realized she had dropped it somewhere in the gas, she frowned. Swiftly glancing about, she spotted a corpse with a long sword prodding out of it. With a tug, she removed the weapon and averted her eyes from the soldier. The weapon was longer than she wanted it to be, but she was in no position to be complaining.

The sound of footsteps made her body go tense and she turned around, ready for virtually anything. She felt a sense of relief when she saw Riyouk marching toward her, but that feeling turned to bitter remorse as she noticed that he was carrying Deidara's severed head. A lump formed in her throat and her chest felt tighter when it hit her that she would never be able to see his smiling face again.

Her friend was gone.

If Riyouk noticed her tortured expression, he did not say anything about it because he began, "Change into another form. Itachi is a target for the Akatsuki."

Numbly, she did as she was told, transforming back into herself, before sighing and asking, "What are you going to do now?"

"That depends on what you tell me. You pretended to be Itachi to lure me. Why?" he demanded, no hint of care in his tone.

"To save the real Itachi from Orochimaru. The snake wants your body," she answered honestly, straightening her shoulders and looking him right in the eyes. Riyouk looked to the side with a scowl.

"The real Itachi is dead."

Mika pursed her lips and took a step forward before announcing, "You're wrong. Itachi is definitely alive; I can feel it."

Scoffing, Riyouk countered, "You can _feel_ it? For the longest time you felt that Madara was your husband. There is no way I am going to trust your feelings."

"Then don't. Put your trust in Itachi," she said softly, her eyes silently testifying for all the times Itachi had saved her before.

Resigning, he muttered, "So now you just expect me to come to Orochimaru and willingly give my life for him."

At this point, despite the pain deep in her heart, Mika grinned.

"I am going to make you a deal. I have never trusted Orochimaru and it seems you are of the same opinion. Let us go to Orochimaru's base together, where we will put an end to his miserable life," she proposed and it was as if a burden was being taken off her shoulders.

However, Riyouk's eyes narrowed dangerously and his stance became more defensive. It was not the reaction she had been hoping for.

"You are rather quick to turn on your allies. So you will just as quickly betray me when the time comes," he replied, his face a shield of crude reality. Mika looked away and tightened the grip on her long sword.

"I will."

...

The light patter of feet echoed through the tunnels, but to Mika, her steps felt much heavier than they should. A bag hung loosely in her left hand, blood dripping from it occasionally. This object was cause for great turmoil in her soul and she could not deny that she was inhuman for carrying such thing instead of burying it. Hours had passed since she had been at the battlefield and she was finally at the location Orochimaru said they should meet for the exchange. It was at an unfamiliar cave system to the south east, a place she had not expected to contain a hidden lair. Of course, the unlikely location was the reason for the construction of the base in the first place.

Orange flames flickered along the walls, casting an eerie glow on everything in their path. The musty smell of moist walls intruded her senses, rivaling the stench of rotting corpses. Strangely colored stains littered the floor and she had to pay attention not to step into something biohazardous. There was no doubt that this base was poorly cared for, if not completely abandoned.

Mika sighed when the tunnel turned again, with no hints as to when it would come to an end. She felt the itch of nervousness crawling up her spine and she wanted nothing more than to turn around and flee. The only thing that kept her going was her loyalty to Itachi, who had already saved her life multiple times. Surely she could afford to attempt to save him once?

Pushing away her paranoia and selfish desires, she lengthened her strides. The sooner she could get the ordeal over with, the better. Despite looking mentally stable, she could feel her walls slowly crumbling down. At a time like this, she needed to curl up in a corner and spend days praying for the gods to forgive her transgressions.

Her heart fluttered in her chest when the tunnel widened into a vast cavern. Only the entrance was lit so from her perspective, she was about to march into a black hole. The darkness put her on edge and she scanned for chakra, wishing to have at least a second of warning in case something shot out at her.

For a second, she detected not a single presence in the vicinity, but the next, two golden eyes were peering into her own. Drawing in a sharp breath, she jumped back and glared at the person in front of her.

"I am surprised you made it here. I heard it was quite the massacre," the slick voice of Orochimaru sliced through the tense silence.

Ignoring his words, she dropped the bloodied bag in front of his feet. It rolled slightly, revealing that the object inside was spherical.

With her head bowed, she whispered, "I have failed you."

_**To be continued...!**_

Mika and Orochimaru meet at last! The tension is like a tautened spring, just about ready to burst forth and erupt into a spectacle of explosive drama. Any predictions?


	27. The Secret

Hello! This story is coming to a close soon and...

_**Chapter 27- The Secret.**_

With her head bowed, Mika whispered, "I have failed you."

Orochimaru's eyes darkened and he glanced at the bloodied bag, nudging it with his foot slightly. His lips pursed and he crossed his arms, quite displeased with implications of the object inside. From the harsh look in his eyes, she could see he was disappointed in her.

Drawing in a shuddery breath, she explained, "The battle got out of hand. I didn't want to kill him, but there were others fighting all around us. I wasn't paying attention to them and he accidentally got caught in an explosion of kunai."

Then, with a heavy heart, she continued, "I brought the head as a sign that he is dead."

"And so for the second time, you've been unable to fulfill your promise. You understand there is a limit to my generosity," Orochimaru bit out, glaring at her threateningly.

"Please, I would do anything to save Itachi," she pleaded, taking a step toward him.

Sighing, he looked down at her before muttering, "I can use the DNA from the head to clone another Riyouk. It will take some time, but I will still have my body."

Her eyes lit up and she began thanking him, but he cut her off with a sharp gesture of his hand. Then, he leaned down and picked the red, stained bag from the ground. As if it was something normal to do, he reached into its depths and latched on the severed head inside. He took the object out and the second he laid eyes on the blond head of Deidara, his mouth contorted into a demonic frown.

However, before he could do anything, Mika finished doing the hand seals for the fireball jutsu. A stream of flame shot into the snake-man's direction and he barely had enough time to jump back. He was about to land on the ground when the earth shook and a figure shot out of the ground, tackling Orochimaru.

Mika lunged forward, intent on aiding the man from the depths in exterminating the yellowed-eyed vermin.

"Cut off his arms!" the man yelled and she did as she was instructed, roughly severing Orochimaru's upper limbs. He hissed and writhed, but the man held him down with a grip of iron. Then, the man drew a dagger and plunged it deep into the snake-man's chest cavity, effectively pinning him to the ground. Blood oozed from his mouth and a pool of shining crimson grew around them.

Then, as quickly as they could, Mika and the man did a series of identical seals. It was for a sealing jutsu that would temporarily render Orochimaru unable to move. In that time, they intended to burn him to ashes.

Black ribbons flowed from their palms, wrapping around the still conscious snake-man. His eyes shone with malice and his mouth was open in a silent scream, choked by the torrent of blood seeping from his chest. When every inch of him was covered in the black sealing material, they stopped feeding chakra to the jutsu and gave each other curt nods.

Mika started doing the seals for the fire dragon jutsu when unexpectedly, the dark mass that was Orochimaru began to bulge. The man ushered her to hurry up, but it was too late. With the sound of ripping material, Orochimaru broke through the seal and flew right in her direction.

Just in time, the man was able to knock them both down to the ground. They flipped back on their feet momentarily, standing in a defensive position. Much to their dismay, instead of attacking them, Orochimaru stood and laughed.

His malevolent chuckles bounced off the walls of the earthen cave walls, surrounding them from every side. Mika's heart raced and the grip on her sword tightened. She was not shocked that their surprise attack had failed, but that did not mean she was happy to accept that.

"So you are alive after all," Orochimaru started as his sly eyes fixated themselves onto the figure of the man, Riyouk.

"And you two actually planned to kill me," he continued, a crazed grin mutilating his features. Mika frowned at his care-free attitude. He was speaking as if they were just having a cup of tea and discussing the weather.

"Then, to make things even better, you're working together. Does Riyouk know I sent you to kill him?" he asked Mika before turning to Riyouk and asking, "And she does realize that you locked her up in prison and forbade her from participating in the war?"

Mika wrinkled her nose and said, "Our backgrounds do not matter. We both want Itachi to live and the only way to ensure that is by ending your life."

Crossing his regenerated arms, Orochimaru casually paced back and forth as he said, "You should surrender."

This time, it was Riyouk who spoke out, "Stop wasting our time. You _will_ die tonight."

Instantly, Riyouk charged at the snake-man, his hands furiously switching to do seals for another jutsu. Boulders stood vertically from the ground before throwing themselves at Orochimaru with tremendous speed. Irritatingly gracefully, the snake-man dodged each attack, even taking the time to grin at them occasionally.

Then, Orochimaru ran into the depths of the cavern, where the meager light could not reveal his form. From the shadows, he spoke, "Are you sure you will refuse my offer?"

Mika scoffed, drew an explosive tag and threw it high into the darkness so when it exploded, they saw exactly where Orochimaru was. Without hesitation, they charged at him. Riyouk was armed with two chipped kunai and Mika toted a rusty sword. Though their weapons were mundane, their determination allowed them to use their tools with swift precision. No doubt, emotion is a powerful drive.

Snakes leapt at them, emerging from Orochimaru's arms. They slashed the beasts away easily, but it was all a distraction to allow the former Akatsuki member to lurk farther away from the flickering source of light.

"You have one last chance. I promise to use _some_ anesthetic," he continued in his mission to persuade them.

"There is no way we will ever surrender to you!" Mika yelled into the darkness, only to get a chuckle in response.

"You of all people should be willing to submit to me," he continued, referring to her directly. Her lips curled downward, and a low growl was at the back of her throat. If she knew where he was, she would have gone ballistic on him.

"After all, I'm not as cruel as Madara."

Her eyes widened and with lightning speed both she and Riyouk understood the implications of his words. If Madara was going to be here-

Mika did not hesitate as she turned and sprinted in the direction of the entrance. There was nothing she could do to help Itachi if Madara arrived and she was in no shape to be able to handle imprisonment again. Riyouk was right behind her, fully intent on using every ounce of his chakra to high-tail out of there. Though they both wanted to defeat Madara, they were in no way delusional enough to think that they could do it by themselves. Besides, they still had the chakra-suppressing bracelets that allowed them to go untracked.

They were within a hundred feet of the entrance when there was a terrifying crash. The ground shuddered and for a split second, they were able to see as a wall of rock cascaded from above, successfully eliminating any chances of using that tunnel again. With their hope of escape, the light fled as well.

There was only darkness.

Mika could not see her own hands, and Riyouk was completely invisible to her. His bracelet made it impossible for her to trace his chakra, but she could feel that Orochimaru was still at the place he had been when they had started to run. Then who had caused the cave-in?

Deep in her shattered soul, she knew exactly who it was. Her throat became constricted and panic seeped into her thoughts, making her incapable of coming up with any plan. All she could focus on was that these were her last few moments of freedom. Her body felt cold and her fingers shook slightly.

Suddenly, she felt a hand grab her own. Her first reaction was to jerk away, but when she heard Riyouk's assuring voice, she paused.

"Relax. We do not know it was _him_," he said and she nodded, even though she knew he would not be able to see her. Briefly, she wondered why he was bothering to comfort her. Regardless of their circumstances, she thought he still considered her as his enemy.

"I can tunnel us out of here using a jutsu, but I need time. Concentrate on Orochimaru," he said and let go of her hand, presumably to start a long sequence of seals. Her focus shifted to Orochimaru's chakra again and as previously, he was still in the same place. Her suspicion was peaked; this was a perfect opportunity for him to attack.

Three minutes passed and there was no change. Mika turned in the direction she thought Riyouk was, waiting. Last time he had used the tunneling jutsu was back at the war front. That was the way they had managed to escape without being eaten alive by all the Zetsu clones.

However, it had taken him two minutes to perform the seals last time and four minutes had already ticked by. Not daring to make a sound, she extended her hand forward in search of him. She came up short and furrowed her blow, repeating the gesture all around her.

He was no where to be found.

She swallowed nervously and whispered his name. With each word, her heart rate climbed and she feared for the worst. If Riyouk was not able to tunnel them away, there was no way she would be able to escape.

No one responded to her and she drew a shuddery breath. She didn't even know what to do. Lighting a fireball would give her location away and quite honestly, she was too afraid to see what was lurking right beside her. The darkness was her shield, but it was also her enemy's greatest weapon.

Mika felt a ghost of a breath at her neck and turned suddenly. Her sword was poised to attack as she whispered, "Riyouk, that better be you."

Just like last time, no one responded and she grew jitterier. Then, she felt the tiniest bit of pressure on her hip and nearly choked on her breath. There was no way she could have imagined that. She turned again, slowly this time.

When she stopped moving, she felt contact along the length of her arm. Without any hesitation, she lunged to the side, disappointed to end up slicing only the air. She was growing more irritated and conscious of the fact that someone was playing games with her.

Narrowing her eyes, she drew an explosive tag. If her sword could not reach her perpetrator, the explosion surely would. A few seconds later, she was horrified to feel a finger trace her jaw line. Pumped full of adrenaline, she raised her hand to throw the explosive tag, but her wrist was seized, causing a very real pain to shoot up her arm. The paper fell from her fingers and she tried to strike out with her sword-toting hand. Much to her dismay, there was nothing in front of her.

In an instant, her wrist was free and she clutched the limb protectively. The pain felt much too familiar. Then, just as quickly, she was pushed from behind and she tumbled to the ground, landing roughly on her knees. Gritting her teeth, she jumped back up and held a defensive stance.

She didn't have any time to think of a proper way to secure her person because she was suddenly punched in the stomach. The breath was knocked out of her and she stumbled forward, barely able to regain her balance. Her mind was reeling and she could not stop the growing sense of despair welling in her chest.

She knew exactly who was doing this to her, but if she were to admit it, she would surely crumble into ashes. Just as that melancholy thought echoed through her very being, she was hit in the left cheek. Blood trickled from her mouth and she was forced back, closer in the direction of Orochimaru.

Her breathing was ragged and she glared out into the darkness. There was only so much violence she could take without giving into her desire for revenge. Frowning, she extended her sword in front of herself and said, "Whoever you are, you fight like a coward."

There was a rush of air and at the moment she expected a hit to land on her, she jumped vertically into the air. Aided with her chakra, she was now a full seven feet above the ground. Then, with the speed that only a ninja was capable of, she drew her third, final explosive tag and threw it below her. A _boom_ rocked the ground and her landing was shaky, considering she could not actually see what she was trying to get on. Using the explosion as a distraction, she did the hand seals for the fireball jutsu.

When she was on the last seal, she felt a woeful mixture of joy and horror. Finally, she would be able to see who was behind the attack, but at the same time, she could be forced to confront her worst fear.

As she drew the deep breath necessary to create the ball of flame, she was roughly grabbed by the hands. Her fingers cracked and a small scream escaped her when she was twirled around and shoved against a hard surface. Two arms wrapped around her waist, while also tightly keeping her wrists in line. That was when she realized that the hardness was from the armor on her attacker's chest. Despite her efforts, her breathing became short and sudden, and even though it was dark, her eyes were wide with fear.

She was trapped.

Mika felt sick to her stomach, pained physically from the hits and emotionally tortured from being completely defenseless. Her traitorous body began to shake when she felt a pair of lips on her neck. Soft, butterfly kisses trailed along her collar bone and she almost lost it. There was no doubt this was-

"Your fear is intoxicating," the smooth, masculine voice of the one man she feared more than the Devil spoke. His seductive tone sent shivers down her spine, causing her to go weak at the knees. This was too much. At this rate, she would die of fright.

The hold on her right hand loosened slightly, but it was for a reason that made her heart skip a beat. He was taking the bracelet off her hand. She jerked instinctively, but she was no match for his unyielding grip. He had the bracelet off her wrist quickly and when she tried to reach for it, he crudely wrapped his left arm around her.

"Now let me show you how to do a proper fireball," he said and she heard a distinct metallic _clack_ of her bracelet hitting the ground. She realized what he was going to do and lurched away with more effort.

"No! That's the only thing keeping me alive!" she yelled, but when she felt his chest rise with a deep breath, she knew it was too late.

Brilliant red flame burst forth from his mouth and easily engulfed the chakra-concealing bracelet. Golden light danced across the cave and her eyes could barely adjust to the sudden exposure.

With great pain in her heart, she laid eyes on the man responsible for robbing her of life. His short black hair was longer than she remembered and it stood out in spikes in some areas, a testament of his brash nature. Crimson red, his eyes were focused on the fire ahead of him and his face was unobscured by a mask. There were a few scratches on his cheek and as her eyes trailed downward, she noticed his blood-splattered attire. Red armor with spikes on it was covering his chest and underneath, he had his characteristic black shirt. A large war fan hung on his back and there was a dagger on his waist. Aside from her personal biases, he looked like a terrifying figure to meet in the battle field.

His eyes flickered down at her and for the first time in a very long time, their eyes truly met. Fear was etched deep into her green orbs and she was shocked to see regret welded into his. In an instant, it changed into a bitterly distrustful glare and she hastily looked away. No matter how long they had been apart, she was not ready.

With her head turned, she noticed that Riyouk was being pinned down by Orochimaru. She frowned and closed her eyes. Perhaps it was better not to see what was about to happen.

The light faded slowly as the flames died down and Mika swallowed the lump in her throat. She was overly conscious of their proximity and it made her even more uneasy, considering she knew exactly what he was capable of.

Ever so softly, she whispered, "Madara, what are you going to do with me?"

His name felt foreign on her tongue and a fresh wave of pain ached her heart at the comprehension that he was in full control of her future.

"I have plenty planned for you, don't worry," he whispered back, his breath tickling her ear. She bit her lip and held back a weak whimper. She should not have asked. The dread of what was to come was overwhelming her and she wished that this was all a horrendous nightmare.

Suddenly, someone cleared their throat next to them and the elder Uchiha turned his head, while Mika started into the darkness with wide eyes. With his Sharingan, he was able to see every detail of the person in front of them.

"I hate to interrupt this joyful reunion, but I believe we are missing an important member," Orochimaru's slick voice said casually, almost giddily.

Madara did not say a word, but instead, threw Mika to the ground and did a set of hand seals. She could not see what was going on, but a puff of smoke signaled the arrival of another important piece of the puzzle. There was the sound of someone coughing and blindly, Mika crawled in the direction of the noise. The first thing she felt was soaked material and from the smell, she could tell it was blood. As her hands traveled up the unknown individual, she became increasingly worried. There was an awful amount of blood and rope was constricting the being from moving. She traced the person's face and froze.

"Mika."

_**To be continued...!**_

Drama~ Any thoughts on the unraveling of the plot?


	28. The Sorrow

Finally, here is the completed chapter! Feel free to scroll down to where the preview left off, but be warned that I changed the ending slightly.

_**Chapter 28- The Sorrow**_

"Mika."

The injured female's breath hitched in her throat and her hands shook as she reached to embrace the one person who had been with her during all of her arduous experiences. _He_ elated her shivering heart more than anything, but at the same time, she wished he was on the other side of the world. Here all of their lives hung on a spider web. And she was sure the spider would not wait long before devouring its prey.

Mika's hands felt something slippery and she nearly withdrew when she realized it was a fresh wound. She carefully slid closer to the figure and reached for his face, letting a smile traverse her visage when she felt the familiar structure. Her arms wrapped around him and she hated to notice how thin he had become. His ribs were painfully evident and his previously taught shoulders were void of their strength. Knowing who was responsible for the torture, she felt a deep sympathy. They both knew exactly what Madara as capable of.

She was afraid to say his name out loud, as if the statement would render everything a cruel dream. Still, she had to be absolutely sure that this was not a genjutsu. Sourly, she noted that even if it was an illusion, she would have no way to telling.

"Itachi," she whispered into his ear and he nodded slightly. She felt him trying to shift his weight and when she grabbed hold of his hands, she noticed the thick rope around them. Working quickly, she started untying his bonds.

Somewhere in the darkness to their side, Orochimaru's slick voice uttered, "Good. He is looking to be in the perfect condition for experimentation. I really do hate it when they try to resist."

Mika's heart skipped a beat when she understood what he was getting at. The situation was an exchange; Itachi to Orochimaru in return for her to Madara. A sick dread clenched her chest and she tugged at the ropes with more vigor. Though she did not know what they could do to get away, she suspected Itachi would always have a plan. Simply because he was broken in body did not mean that the same was true with his mind.

"You always did have a certain fascination for the Uchiha," Madara started, his deep voice rumbling with raw power. Mika shivered and swallowed a lump in her throat. Madara had always been cold, but there was something about his tone that gave the impression of complete lack of mercy. War had twisted him.

"Of course. How could I not? Your clan was a true statute of power. With Itachi's body, I could create hundreds of more Uchiha. Except, they would also have my beautiful characteristics as well," Orochimaru replied with an unhidden hint of glee.

"Hn, I knew you would only want Itachi for your own sick purposes," Madara ended darkly and she felt his malevolent chakra spike suddenly. Unconsciously, she tightened her grip on Itachi, who frowned and silently began to shift in the direction of the cave wall. Mika followed his suggestion, but they were only able to get a few feet away when suddenly, another treacherous chakra pierced the atmosphere.

Her eyes widened and she felt Itachi draw in a sudden breath. This was-

"Sasuke, I believe you have some unfinished business with your dear mentor," Madara said, his voice thick with mockery.

Realizing what was about to happen, Orochimaru lunged at Itachi, intent on escaping with him. However, at that moment, the cave exploded with purple light and Sasuke's Susanoo came into view. A split second later, a burning violet arrow slashed through the air, forcing the snake-like man to retreat into the shadows.

"What is this? Don't tell me you're going back on our deal!" Orochimaru's suddenly livid voice hissed from the void. Madara gave him no heed and instead, turned to give Sasuke a curt nod. Instantly, Sasuke sprang into the darkness, instigating a crude, violent battle.

With the faint glow of Sasuke's eye technique, Mika was able to lay her eyes on Itachi. She wished she hadn't. Itachi was clad in a torn, bloody servant costume and despite the lack of light, she could see the many scars that littered his body. It was no relief to know that she was not the only one privy to Madara's cruelty.

"I'm sorry," she whispered over and over again, barely able to stop herself from sobbing into him. Itachi's scarcely present chakra flared for a second and suddenly, the ropes were no longer restraining him.

Knowing he only had a tiny bit of time, he wrapped his arms around her and said, "Madara is going to kill me. I'm sorry, but there is no way to stop him. I wish I didn't have to leave you all by yourself."

With each word, Mika became increasingly tormented with grief. She could not live knowing that Itachi was no longer in her world. He was the only reason she was still fighting against Madara.

"No," she whispered fiercely, "I won't let him separate us."

Content with the way Sasuke's battle was going, Madara turned his attention back to the huddling couple with a glare. He stepped forward and they clung to each other like their lives depended on it. Neither one wanted to ever have to let go of the other.

"Itachi, your part in my plan is fulfilled. You are lucky I let you even see Mika again," the elder Uchiha stated as he drew a dagger from his side.

Knowing Madara was not one to waste time, Mika yelled, "You told me one of your dreams was to revive the Uchiha clan. You can't do that with just yourself and Sasuke. Let Itachi live, if only for that purpose."

His piercing stare shot straight through her as he came back with, "I have enough materials in my lab to create a whole empire of Uchiha. I do not need Itachi."

"But you do need me," she retorted hastily. "If you take him away from me, I will no longer have a reason to live. One day, you'll let your guard down and I _will_ end my own life, just to see Itachi in heaven before I rot in hell for eternity."

Madara's eyes narrowed at her words, but despite his evident concern, he said, "What makes you think I need you?"

"You had hundreds of chances to end my life and you chose not to. Even as a brainless puppet, you want me by your side as you rule the world. I've known you for too long Madara. You've always wanted to include me in your plan," she said, her voice softening toward the end.

Before he had a chance to continue, she added, "I remember everything. Not just the bad times, but the times when you were sweet and loving. I remember the birthday presents, the evening meals, the soft kisses, and the scenic trips all across the ninja world. You're not a complete monster, Madara. Please, for me, find that tiny shred of kindness and spare my only friend."

There was a long silence, in which they stared into each others eyes, neither willing to look away. The only sounds were that of Sasuke and Orochimaru, who were exchanging blows at an increasing rate.

Madara cleared his throat and said, "And in return for this kind gesture?"

With her heart beating rapidly in her chest, she conceded, "I will never resist you again. I will give myself up to you completely."

Blank and expressionless, Madara took a couple of strides toward them, causing Mika to back up instinctively and hold onto Itachi even tighter. He crouched down so he was at their eye level and leaned closer to Mika, offering her his unflinching gaze. She gulped, but dared not stir the silence.

"You have a deal," he said and Mika's face lit up for the first time in a long time, a genuine smile appearing on her face.

"Thank you," she whispered, barely able to contain her mirth. Itachi, however, was not so easily pleased.

He shifted to face Madara and said, "You realize you will only hurt her by twisting her words."

An unusual, crooked smirk appeared on the elder Uchiha's face and before Mika could make sense of Itachi's words, Madara put his gloved hand on Itachi's forehead. Chakra began to pour into the younger Uchiha's skull and she screamed in protest when she realized what was happening. Madara was using the same technique he had used on Sasuke to brainwash Itachi. Vainly, she grabbed Madara's forearm and yanked, all the while pleading for him to stop. All he had to do was don her one punch in the shoulder and she was thrown sprawling to the ground. She was about to try again when both Itachi and Madara stood up, deep frowns on their features.

In between strained breaths, Itachi said, "I would rather die than be your brainless servant."

Likewise, Madara replied, "Then I will grant you your wish."

Mika jumped up to tear them apart when she was suddenly grabbed from behind. Faintly, her mind registered that it was Riyouk, but she did not stop struggling. She screamed and thrashed, regardless of the pain. All she could think about was Itachi.

She froze when she felt an unfamiliar chakra signature coming from Itachi. A faint red glow flickered on his pale skin and she flinched at the rugged emotion oozing from his very pores. Chakra was known to convey feelings when its owner was in a serious battle, but until then, she had only experienced waves of anger or determination. What was emanating from Itachi was starkly different and she could feel it boring deep into her soul.

Sorrow.

It burned and threatened to turn her inside out. Guilt knotted her stomach when she realized that he had been sheltering these tormented feelings inside him and she had no idea. She dared not blink as she watched the crimson mist swirl and coheres into a more clear pattern on his skin. The rigid, angular lines settled and in an instant, faded to black. It took all the members in the vicinity only a second to recognize the technique and their reactions were just as quick. Mika uttered a heart-wrenching scream while using her remaining strength to muscle out of Riyouk's grasp. In response, he lunged at her, but spared a regretful glance in Itachi's direction. Both Sasuke and Orochimaru jumped apart, the former to stare at his brother in confusion and the latter to narrow his golden eyes with displeasure. Madara, who was closest to Itachi, cursed and unleashed a pulse of oppressive chakra in an attempt to gain control of the younger Uchiha and make him stop the technique.

With his last breath, Itachi turned to Sasuke, Mika and Riyouk before whispering, "I have faith in you."

Then, before neither of them could move a muscle, Itachi grabbed Madara's arm and released the seal that was crawling all over his skin. A roaring wind rushed past them, drawing them in Itachi's direction. Riyouk dragged Mika as far away as he could, despite her protests, while Madara leaked his chakra around him as a shield. He did not have enough time to run.

The onlookers watched in despair as a deathly black sphere formed in the center of Itachi's chest. He closed his eyes and he parted into the void. At long last, the fated Uchiha was free from his martyrdom.

Mika choked on a sob as she watched the man she considered her brother become engulfed by the sphere. The darkness twisted, an angry yell resounded and suddenly, she was flying through the air. She hit the ground like a rag-doll, numb from the shock and pain. A raspy breath passed through her throat and her mind spun. It was as if the last minutes were all a dream and her mind could not accept the cruel reality of it.

Itachi was dead.

Riyouk's coughing dragged her back to the situation at hand and she stumbled up. What she saw went against her attempt to repress what had just happened. A crater, several meters in diameter, stood where Itachi had been. Madara was on the edge of the crater, his shoulders rising with each of his ragged breaths. Blood leaked down the steep, smooth walls of the hole and she understood that he was injured. Acting on instinct, she drew her rusty kunai and crouched, ready to attack him. He was the reason Itachi was gone and at that moment, she truly wanted to kill him.

However, before she could act, a purple blur tackled Madara, causing the elder Uchiha to throw a punch at his assailant. The attacker jumped back and Mika gasped when she saw that it was Sasuke. Confusion closed over her and she wondered how Sasuke had managed to resist the mind control. Had the torment of losing his only brother made him snap?

Clearly, Madara was not pleased with this new development because his face was marred with a frown and his threatening posture was a sign of his killer intent. More blood pooled at the former Uchiha clan's leader's feet and he grit his teeth. Mika noticed that his right hand was hanging limply at his side, which suggested he was unable to create seals. She glanced at Sasuke to check on his physical condition when unexpectedly, the world around her faded to red. Her heart skipped a beat.

Genjutsu.

How did he- There was nothing- When had she looked-

Mika's thoughts became decreasingly consistent until all that was on her mind was a primal fear. She had been in Madara's genjutsu countless times and not once had it been a pleasant affair. He would either kill her, immobilize her or torture her into unconsciousness. A shiver descended her spine, chilling her with the fact that she was helpless.

"How dare he! That bastard is going to pay!" a deep, sinister voice made her eyes go wide. Alas, it was not the voice of the person she had been expecting it to be.

"Sasuke," she started cautiously before continuing, "Do you remember me?"

She had no idea whether she could trust him or not and why he had turned against Madara so suddenly. Sasuke's blazing orbs locked onto her sharply at her inquiry, but then he frowned and looked away. Gruffly, he said, "It is coming back slowly, but I know we are allies."

Mika's posture relaxed slightly and her adrenaline-riddled heart beat with less vigor. The timing could not be better; an ally ready to battle right when Madara was injured. A worrying thought made her pause: was Sasuke strong enough to face the elder Uchiha on his own?

"You need to find others to fight by your side. Even though he's injured, Madara is still too strong," she said even though she hated to pass the current opportunity up.

Sasuke's reaction to her suggestion was immediate. He appeared in front of her and grabbed her by the neck pushing her down to force her to look at up him. With venom-filled eyes, he glared down at her and sneered, "I will murder Madara within the hour. He _must_ pay for taking my brother away from me."

The look in his eyes was what bothered her. He looked just like Madara, ruthless and ready to achieve his goals by any means necessary. She realized that in his current state, he would only listen to a voice angrier than himself. So, with honed experience thanks to Madara, she wrenched his hand off her throat and promptly spit in his face. He drew back to hit her for her action, but she was able to get behind him and twist his head to the side.

Then, her tone dripping with firm disapproval, she reprimanded, "You immature child! Do not let your vengeance consume you!"

He twisted to the side, but she kept him still by pouring chakra into her hands. She continued with a hiss, "Madara will rip you apart and then put you back together to be his mindless lave. This time, Itachi won't be there to snap you out of it!"

He elbowed her in the stomach and whipped around, yelling, "I can't let him win after what he just did!"

"Then shut up and help me!" she screeched back, one hand holding her abdomen. Sasuke crossed his arms and closed his mouth, a temporary sign of obedience.

Sighing, she explained in a calmer tone, "I need a distraction to get away. Fight him for now, but when I'm gone with Riyouk, retreat. Madara will go after me, I am sure of it.

He looked unsatisfied so she elaborated, "You need to find the other battle survivors. United with the strongest fighters, you will be able to defeat him. He is arrogant because he won the battle, but the war will not be over until he is buried."

Skeptical eyes raked over her before Sasuke frowned and muttered, "He is too strong for me."

Mika took two slow steps toward the troubled teen and whispered, "The outcome of the war is in your hands."

In a rush, the red bled from her sight and she was standing a dozen feet away from the crater, watching as Sasuke launched a savage blow in Madara's direction. While they had been talking in the genjutsu, a mere two seconds had passed. Wasting no time, Mika turned around to ask Riyouk to perform his tunneling jutsu, but she was pleased to see that he was already going through the motions. Everything seemed under control, until she remembered that another enemy was just nearby, lurking in the darkness. The chakra and high-energy of the battle of the Uchihas was enough to cast a dim light in the immediate area, but the far reaches of the cave were still shrouded in darkness.

Orochimaru was there.

Mika could feel a malicious gaze on her person, but she had a difficulty identifying the exact location of the discomfort. A metallic click and a rush of air was all there was to alert her of a set of kunai shooting in her direction. Instinctively, her chakra shield went up, but she was not fast enough because one kunai grazed her thigh. Warn blood poured from the wound and she hissed at the burning sensation, backing up closer to Riyouk.

Knowing that another attack would come in due time, she whipped through the seals for the fireball jutsu and directed the attack to where he kunai had come from. Orange light illuminated the area enough for her to see that a thick black snake with shining white fangs was spiraling in her direction. Rusty kunai at hand, she readied herself for the excruciating pain of a snake bite. She knew she didn't have enough chakra to evade the creature and there was too little time to devise a defense. She tried to convince herself that she was ready for the staggering weight of the snake to smash into her, but she wasn't. In her exhausted state, she stood not chance. Closing her eyes, she pictured Itachi's face and accepted her fate.

_Drip. Drip. Drip_.

Mika flinched when she felt something wet splatter her in the face. The scent of iron flooded her nostrils and her eyes snapped open.

_Thud._

With a pool of growing, thick, dark liquid around its head lay the snake. A dagger prodded from the side of its enormous head, leaving the mouth open to expose the fangs and two-pronged tongue. She stared at the hilt of the weapon, instantly recognizing its owner. Mika glanced at Madara with wide eyes, but he wasn't even facing her. He was engrossed in his battle with Sasuke, saying something to the teen that she could not make out. Her eyes flickered to the butchered beast a few feet away from her and the realization sank in that Madara had actually saved her life. Confused, she frowned and wiped the snake blood off her face.

The severity of the situation donned on her and she jumped to stand beside Riyouk. He gave her a curt nod and grabbed her by the shoulders before completing the final seal of the tunneling jutsu. Once again, the world spun and they traversed deep into the ground, far beyond the reaches of the cave system. Minutes ticked by, giving both passengers a chance to recollect their thoughts and fully process the preceding events.

Mika closed her eyes, preferring to be numb and ignorant over painfully aware of how hopeless everything was. Soon enough, she would be captured because she no longer had her chakra sealing bracelet. An involuntary shiver shook her; the fear was back. She could not withstand another moment around Madara, even if she didn't have a choice.

In a flash, light beamed on her eyelids, informing her that they were above land. They stood on a thickly-vegetated hill, trees and shrubs surrounding them from all sides. Mika did not recognize the area and her internal compass was all mixed up. The forest was too dense to even see an outline of the northern mountains, impeding any further attempts to identify geographical location.

"We have to separate," Riyouk's determined voice startled her out of her musings.

"Yes, I agree. I'll head downhill to get farther and buy you more time," she replied, eying the steep slope to her right.

He shook his head ad took his bracelet off, jiggling it in his hand before stating, "I am the one who will buy you the time. Take the bracelet and try to find any survivors of last night's battle."

The bracelet was held out to her, but she made no move to take it. Instead, she said, "You are not considered a traitor. The survivors will listen to you, not me. And tactical assault is your specialty, not mine."

Riyouk sighed loudly, forced the item into her hand and countered, "You know Madara better than anyone else. That means you could figure out his weakness."

Her eyes clouded over and she lamented, "Except he's changed! He's a completely different person now. Unpredictable and malicious, that's what he is. He's insane and far crueler than before, even his strength has increased."

He ignored her desperate tone and put a hand on her shoulder, looking her in the eyes.

"I know you will find a way to stop him," he said steadily, undoubted belief etched into his eyes. Then, he took a step back, ready to begin the run of a lifetime. Mika, however, rushed forward, grabbing hi by the forearm.

"He will kill you," she said simply.

Riyouk smirked and straightened his back declaring, "Except there is no way he would be able to catch me. I was assigned leader of the special forces for a reason."

His confidence took her aback and he used her moment of speechlessness to loosen her grip on him and jump down the steep, bushy hill. She gasped and readied to run after him, but he was already out of sight. Reluctantly, she did not ensue a chase and put the bracelet on. Taking a deep breath, she turned in the opposite direction and began to run. The kunai wound from before stung and she could feel a fresh trickle of blood traveling down her leg with every few steps. It bothered her, but compared to the rest of her problems, it was nothing.

She tried to keep her mind blank as she maneuvered between trees and over shrubs, but the occasional stab of agony echoed in her skull when she remembered her loss. Aside form her parents, Itachi was the closest person she had ever lost. He had been with her right from the start of her torment with Madara, even though he had initially been her enemy. Countless times, he had saved her from certain death and he had a knack for being able to solve her problems with ease. Her throat tightened as she realized she would never catch him gazing at the moonlight or meditating in the garden again. It was all gone: his rare smiles, his wise eyes and his unparalleled understanding of human emotion.

Her breathing became uneven and her chest constricted, causing her to slow to a halt in a small clearing. With her hands on her knees, she took several deep breaths and stared at the cluster of grass in front of her. Worn out from the emotional turmoil, she let her knees hit the ground as she tried to keep her emotions in check. Now was not the time for a complete breakdown.

Suddenly, a pulse of chakra spread through the country, freezing Mika in her position. It was Madara's chakra. He was kilometers away from her and yet, she felt paralyzed. She turned to where the sinister waves were emanating from and her face crumpled. That was the direction Riyouk had gone. She swallowed slowly, only to taste blood. A cold shiver shook her to the core when the _boom_ of an explosion tore through the forest. She could still feel Madara's chakra hovering in the air, but Riyouk-

A pillar of flame shot into the sky, burning the clouds with a sad orange hue. There was only one chakra present.

Hot, desperate tears flowed down her cheeks and a sob wracked her frame. There was too much death for her to handle and the walls she had built so carefully were crashing down. Beneath it all, she was a weak, frail girl with a broken heart. It was not fair; one by one, Madara was murdering her allies.

And she was next.

_**To be continued...!**_

Now comes the explanation: A week ago, I moved into my new home. (1000 kilometers from my old home.) The move was exhausting and required (still requires) a lot of work, which is why I was so busy from mid June to now. I apologize for the delay, but now, I should be able to stick to a better update schedule. Thank you for the patience and the continual support!


	29. The Triumph

Look, an update! I made this chapter longer than the rest to make up for the long delay. I cannot thank you enough for being so patient with me. Your inspiring reviews and insightful ideas keep me going! I am glad to have such an intelligent, foreseeing audience. (It's scary how some of you know _exactly_ what is going to happen.)

_**Chapter 29- The Triumph**_

A sharp, pained shriek tore through the valley, followed by the sound of blood splattering on jagged stones. Madara stood still, his cold, impassive features focused on the injured creature in front of him. He frowned, irritated by the unnecessary amount of time his task was robbing him of.

"My patience is wearing thin," he threatened and tightened the grip on his bloody dagger, ready to pounce at any moment. His target hissed at him and limped back, naively intent on escaping the angry Uchiha. Madara took the gesture as a go-ahead for brutal violence and dashed straight at his victim. Once again, his gleaming crimson blade became lodged in the wing of his so-called ally. Warm blood crawled along the length of his arm and with a sickening crack, he pulled the dagger out. A growl, deep and ominous, greeted him, as did two large, onyx eyes.

"Uchiha! You have no right to use us for your wrong doings! You may kill me, but my clan will refuse to obey you!" a thick, ancient voice roared. Madara's burning orbs narrowed and he flexed his muscles, not impressed by the stubbornness of the beast.

"Gaze from hell as I prove you wrong," was all Madara said and in a flash, he was standing behind the large summon. The creature did not even have time to register his absence before the cold, sharp dagger sliced its neck. With a thundering thud, it crashed to the earth. Feathers were spayed across the ground, intermingled with fresh blood. A large, beaked head lay to the side, never to breathe again.

Madara had just killed the leader of the falcons.

He lifted his head up and used his Sharingan to count the number of remaining falcons soaring above him: 352. Out of clan tradition, they had not interrupted the battle, but now that their beloved leader was merely a mound of flesh, all bets were off. A savage, ear-splitting screech echoed through the valley. It was a cry of unbearable sorrow and it was laced with feral rage. The falcons turned and suddenly, they all dove for him.

Unfazed, Madara sheathed his weapon and summoned his Susanno. A fortress of a golem surrounded him and it rose high into the sky, level with the falcons. The crimson red demon shielded him from all attack and stood solemnly while the enraged birds pelted him. At that moment, he really did look like the devil, cloaked in blood and impervious to all circumstances. Surely the falcons knew they stood no chance.

In the spur of the moment, he raised his hand in the air suddenly, thus making the golem strike dozens of birds. They smashed into the ground, unmoving. He didn't even spare them a glance: their lives were meaningless to him.

"I can crush you like flies," he sneered, arrogance dripping from his tongue.

"Surrender and I will still allow you to sit on my shoulder as I rule the world," he continued and paused before adding, "Oppose me and I will eradicate your race."

His threat hung heavy in the air, forcing the falcons to seriously consider their chances of survival. At the moment, they were slim. Several shrieks passed between the birds as they contemplated their next move in their native language.

Another human-sized falcon laded in front of him. It was the brother of the leader and it was the same falcon he and Mika had ridden on his birthday years ago. This time, though, it was a much more somber occasion. The falcon's black eyes were swirling with malice and grief, an explosive combination. However, despite his great loss, he was the second-in-command and it was his duty to protect his kind.

"We will obey you, Madara-sama, but know that we will never forgive you for your deed," the falcon said, his voice a mixture of resignation and the promise of revenge. That answer suited the elder Uchiha enough, but now, he needed to test their fragile loyalty. With a click of his tongue, he decided what he wanted them to do. Their completion or rejection of the command would decide their fates.

In a bored, but firm tone, he dictated, "Land."

There was a pause in the fluttering of hundreds of wings as they dove for the ground. Good, there had only been a moment of hesitation. Birds of all sizes sat in front of him, making a strange, pleased gleam form in Madara's eyes.

Raising the bar, he continued authoritatively, "Now bow down to me."

This time, there was a definite pause as obsidian eyes settled on him, all burning with fiery resentment. Yet, as the first few birds of prey lowered their heads, other began to follow. The entire colony was done, with the exception of the brother of the former leader. Shattered, the falcon stood in front of his enemy. He was torn between avenging his brother and protecting his clan. Swallowing his pride, he bowed his head and thereby acknowledged that Madara was greater than himself.

Madara was their leader now.

A satisfied smirk stretched across the formerly tense and agitated Uchiha's face. For a long time, he had wanted all falcons to answer to him and at last, his desire was fulfilled. So this, he thought, was what it felt like to get what he wanted. However there was still one part missing from his fantasy.

He dissipated his Susanno and it faded in a crimson mist, temporarily casting the valley with a bloody shadow. Then, rather leisurely, he strode over to the bowing falcon. Madara had to admit that he was surprised by the humility of the bird. Not thinking about the cruel connotation of his actions, he decided he would ride the creature. The Uchiha was so hell-bent on fulfilling his goals that he did not realize that if he saddled the falcon, he would be crushing him completely. It was a sign of complete oppression that said 'I will humiliate you by making you carry your brother's murderer on your back.' And even if Madara did notice, there was no doubt that he would not care.

He put his uninjured hand on the bird's neck and upon receiving no resistance, he climbed onto its back. The falcon raised his head, eyes filled with torment, and stared out at his clan. Sorrow radiated through the air, but Madara's harsh, clinical voice sliced right through it.

"We are going hunting. Find my wife, Aranuki Mika, and surround her. It seems she's forgotten who I really am," he finished darkly. His words held a promise: Mika was going to be his.

...

A single tree root was her downfall.

Mika's eyes, blurred by tears and exhaustion, failed to see the tiny nuisance and she was much too tired to jump to avoid it.

So she hit the ground. Hard.

The breath was knocked out of her as the front of her body rammed into the harsh, unforgivingly solid earth. Momentum pushed her forward and she rolled chaotically along the forest floor. Her frenzied tumble finally came to a halt when her abdomen smashed into a tree.

For the next few seconds, it was as if time stood still. Her thunderous heart heat drummed in her mind, followed by the wheezing sound of air filtering into her lungs. She swallowed a lump of blood, wincing when she realized it contained dirt. Pain was the next thing she registered and she became paralyzed by it. She stopped breathing; an irrational wave of fear forbade her as her mind struggled to come to terms with her injuries. Her stomach sent numb, crippling waves through her body and her first few moves were rigid. She curled her fingers, glad to see that their only blemish was dirt. Slowly, she propped herself up onto her elbows and dragged herself a bit farther from that damn tree. By then, her legs had regained their feeling, but that was not a good thing. Her left calf was soaked in blood, even though she had used her sleeve to try to stop the bleeding.

Standing was a challenge of its own, but somehow, she managed it. Then, still light-headed, she glared at the tree. She wanted to set it on fire, but luckily, her senses returned to her before she could go through with the impulsive deed.

Scowling, she mentally scolded herself for falling. How had she missed something so simple? For one paranoid moment, her heart skipped a beat. This was sickly familiar and she whipped around to examine her surroundings. When she had first met Madara, it had been in a situation just like this. Upon discovering no threats, she ran a hand through her hair. The elder Uchiha's chakra had disappeared an hour beforehand and luckily, there was no sign of him now. A tiny, silly, optimistic snippet of her brain hoped that would remain the case, but she knew better than that. Madara was not one to give up and his absence meant the opposite of freedom. She could feel it in her bones that he was preparing something, especially for her.

Dusting herself off, she stretched and quickly bandaged her largest wounds. Then, realizing that her time was limited, she broke into a sprint. Mika did not care how exhausted she would become because she needed to cover a lot of distance. Over the years, Madara and she had played a lot of games of cat and mouse and that gave her a sense of how difficult he was to elude. Though, Madara had his handy-dandy Sharingan to cheat with, she thought sourly. Just once, she wished the chase was fair.

After another hour, the initial adrenaline was wearing off and her limbs felt increasingly heavy. At this rate, she would be forced to hole herself in the ground and rest. She threw the idea out of the window when she remembered that Madara would be able to see her heart even though the earth.

Sucking in another shallow breath, she kept pushing herself deeper into the wilderness. By the position of the sun, she determined that it was noon and that she was running east. Those facts were good, but it would be better if she knew exactly how far north or south she was. Time crawled along and since all she could hear was her ragged breathing, her mind fell into a peaceful, thought-less lull. Though, that was also because it was too painful to think. In her emotionally unsettled state, she could not afford to mourn her losses in full. So for now, she would cage it all in. If she kept her emotions far from the surface, then maybe she stood a chance at escaping. Clinging to that idea, she ran. And ran. Until...

"Surrender Aranuki Mika!"

She nearly died on the spot. A chorus of voices, shrill and deep, shrieked the command, freezing the blood in her veins. She stopped in her tracks and threw herself under a particularly thick bush. Leaves and thorns dug into her skin, but all she cared about was the identity of her new enemies.

They were falcons.

There were dozens of them and she swallowed the lump in her throat. She had not anticipated this turn of events. Her eyes narrowed as she calculated the odds that were against her. The falcons had eyesight that was unrivaled by any other species and there was no way she could outrun their swift flight. They would see her every move and swoop to grab her before she could defend herself. Her only path was underground, but she did not know any earthen techniques. Besides, even if she did, she barely had enough chakra to keep herself conscious. Mika did not want to admit it, but her minutes were numbered. Soon Madara would-

She did not continue the gloomy thought as she slowed her breathing, Considering she had no idea how well falcons' hearing was, she had no intention of risking it. More shrieks ripped through the sky, causing her to close her eyes and rest her forehead against the ground.

When the noise died down, she cautiously peeked up. Upon seeing no life forms, she crawled out of the bush and toward a heavily rooted tree. Crouching behind one of the larger roots, she devised her plan of escape. This was her last stand and she would be damned if she did not fight until her last breath. Mika pursed her lips; maybe 'fight' was the wrong way to put it, bearing in mind the immortal strength of her enemy.

Her lack of chakra prevented her from summoning anything fancy so all that left was good old hands-on skill. In short, she didn't have much to work with. She knew that running farther was suicidal, but hiding in a bush was also not an option. Laying in wait was risky, yet that was all she could do. Since Madara had an eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, he would see her pulsating veins right through a tree. That fact made her next decision very simple: she had to hide under a dense material. It had to be something impermeable enough to prevent his sight, but accessible enough to allow her entrance. Slow, rusty wheels churned in her brain, reminding her that there was a river nearby. Connecting the dots, she surmised that a river held the promise of rock, which then meant a possible crawl space. She dared not think about the slim chances of finding such a place.

Ever so slowly, she maneuvered between the trees, listening to the calm call of the water while also fearing the morbid shriek of the birds of prey. Minutes ticked by and she realized how void of life the forest had become. The foreshadowing made her shiver so she blocked it out of her mind. Survival and escape were all she could allow herself to concentrate on.

When the river bed and its litter of stones came into view, she let out a small sigh of relief. Keeping to the shoreline, she crept and scanned for burrows leading into the ground. She became increasingly tense as she came up empty handed. If this did not pan out, she did not have a back up plan to whisk her away. _Well, not alive, that is_.

Her eyes were so focused on the rocky slope that she almost missed the animal tracks going parallel to the coast, just like her. Though she could not identify the owner of the prints, she saw that the beast was large. Maybe there was hope after all- large animals had to have shelter somewhere. After another fifty feet, the tracks turned inland.

Biting her bottom lip, she opted for meandering into the forest rather than continuing a fruitless search by the coast. She became more hesitant when she considered the next scenario. Was she strong enough the fight off a predator? Even if the answer to that was yes, the struggle would undoubtedly attract unwanted attention.

A queasy feeling tickled her guts when she laid eyes on a dark, oval hole under a pile of rotten wood. On any other day, she would have scoffed at the stupidity of willingly climbing in there. Today, however, she was overjoyed at the idea. Whether the creature inside would kill her or not, she did not care. When it all boiled down to it, she would rather be torn apart by a mindless animal than be tortured endlessly by a cruel husband.

Taking a deep breath, she lowered herself to her knees and prayed that no one was home. She peeked in, frowning at the pitch black darkness that greeted her. Then, with a heavy sigh, she propelled herself into the overflowing shadows. Using her hands, she was able to feel the tunnel turn. She could barely fit and her shoulders got stuck in places. Somehow, she managed to squeeze through.

Despite her lack of sight, her eyes were wide and her senses were on high alert. Thoughts raced through her mind, all revolving around the possible danger to be faced or the abrupt end of the tunnel. Much to her relief, the crawl-way became a downward slope and the walls became made out of a more compact material. The temperature dropped and the air became staler, a telltale sign of deceasing elevation.

_Crack!_

And so began the end.

At first, it was a thin, crackling noise, but it steadily grew in intensity. Mika frantically crept forward and she became mortified when she felt a widening gap. In the suffocating darkness her terror mounted and came to a head when the earth shifted beneath her. The ground roared in a thundering tone, deafening her and making her feel so very, very small. A tormented sound resounded and peaked in an explosion.

Her body was thrown against the shattering tunnel's walls as everything around her crumbled to pieces. Boulders sharply protruded above the surface, scarring the once vegetated landscape. Mika couldn't prevent a strangled scream from ripping out of her throat when she felt an immense weight on her right arm. And suddenly, she did not feel the limb anymore. Panicking, she pulled and pulled, but to no avail.

"So there you are, hiding like a coward."

Everything inside of her froze, sick to the bone with terror. That voice- It was the voice of the devil, mocking her and flaunting how in control of the situation he was. She flinched when she heard him take a step forward, slow and deliberate. Since he was behind her, she could not lay her eyes on him, but that wasn't a bad thing. She wished their eyes would never meet again. Alas, her wish would go unanswered.

Yanking again, she whimpered when the stone that held her down did not budge. Her hunter took another step, causing her heart to beat out of her chest and her body to thrash like a fish out of water. She choked on the unbearable agony of what was to come.

Through pure willpower, she was able to summon the last of her chakra in her left fist. Then, just as her looming threat strode closer, she punched the stone. Pain shot up her arms, both from the force of breaking rock and the regaining of feeling of a squashed limb.

Breathing heavily she stumbled up and cradled her injured arm. The suspense was killing her so she turned around and whispered, "You're going to drag this out, aren't you?"

Her eyes were downcast so she did not see his eyes narrow in response to her tattered appearance. Every part of her was covered in blood, all her own. Her shortened hair was matted and twigs mixed with dirt were sticking out of it. She looked completely battered, but the best indicator of that was her tear-stained face. The marks of sorrow had dried, leaving barely visible trails on her visage. So he had made her cry- again. However, when her burning green orbs locked onto him, he knew there was still some fight left in her.

Mika frowned when she got a clear look of her dreaded predator. His war costume was torn in places and his arm was but a bloody mess. There were a few scratches on other parts of him, which almost made her want to smile. _Even the omnipotent demon was not immune to injury._

Madara answered her sharply, "You are the one who insists on running."

"I'm not going to lie down and let you have your way," she hissed, the hidden anger becoming more apparent. He jumped from the boulder he was standing on and to her level, making her instinctively take a step back.

Then, leaning closer to loom over her, he warned, "We both know how this is going to end. If you surrender now, I _might_ consider going easy on you."

Courage sparked in her and she stepped forward, sneering, "I will not give myself to the man who murdered Itachi in cold blood."

The elder Uchiha glared at her as he bit out, "He killed himself."

"And, as if that wasn't enough, you went and destroyed Riyouk," she seethed, mentally compiling a mile-long list of all the wrongs Madara had committed.

Clearly running out of patience, he grabbed her by the shoulders and yelled, "Riyouk sacrificed himself for you!"  
>She shrunk in his grasp, slapped by the harsh truth of his words. Then, before she could recover, he tightened his grip on her and stated, "You slayed Deidara, one of the few people you actually got along with in the Akatsuki."<p>

With weakening resolve, she defended, "He was going to kill me because you told him I'm a traitor."

Madara ignored her discomfort and leaned closer, forcing her alarmed eyes to meet his raging one. Disapproval etched into his features, he mocked, "And you're not?"

She flinched under his uncompromising stare, unable to maintain eye contact. Torn apart by emotion, she backed away from him and surprisingly, he let her go. When she turned away, her eyes widened upon noticing the many falcons that were surrounding them. Their onyx orbs held sympathy, but not a trance of desire to help. She noticed a particularly large falcon to her left and she recognized him faintly. Though she wanted to get a closer look, the tormented stare he shot her way made her avert her gaze. It was no comfort that she was not the only one sheltering pain.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she admitted, "It's over. You've captured me."

Then, taking a cautious step away from him, she whispered, "Please let me enjoy these last few moments of freedom."

He did not reply so she looked up to the sunny sky, wrapping her hands around herself. Would she ever feel its warming rays again?

Hanging her head, she let a wave of regret wash over her. This was not the way her life was supposed to go. She was supposed to grow up, advance in the ninja ranks and get married to a nice, caring fellow shinobi. Instead, she became a murderous traitor and the wife of the hated enemy. She had nothing.

No one would mourn her.

With inhuman speed, she drew her rusty kunai and went to lodge it into her throat. The weapon made contact... _but not with what she had expected_. Warm blood trickled along the length of her arm and she inhaled shakily. Mika felt someone breathe on her neck and she gasped when she saw that it was Madara. The kunai was prodding out of his shoulder and for a moment, she did not know what to do. Part of her wanted to heal him, but the other wished to drive her weapon deeper into his flesh. Instead, she settled for staring at him in disbelief.

As if it was merely a toothpick, he plucked the kunai out of himself and threw it to the ground. She had no idea what to expect from him, but she knew she was in trouble when a vicious glare pierced her. He was enraged beyond reason, though it was unclear whether this was because he valued her life or he wanted to kill her himself.

His dripping, crimson hand wrapped around her throat, slowly applying pressure. Then in a voice of burning oppression, he growled, "I and I alone hold the key to your life."

"You," he squeezed her throat her emphasis, "Do not have my permission to die."

Mika would have countered and disagreed, but the cold, unforgiving way he spoke left her speechless. Was this really the Madara she had fallen in love with all those years ago?

He was not done with her yet, since he used his other hand to secure her wrist. For the second time that day, he ripped off her chakra-sealing bracelet and chucked it away, presumably to be lost between the cracks of time. Now, he was able to feel her flickering, barely present chakra signature. It pleased him to confirm her being in front of him, as if it made her even more his.

With a possessive growl, he wrapped his arms around her waist, forcing her up against him. Naturally, she pushed him away; though, in her exhausted state, her efforts were an exercise in futility.

Madara spoke to the falcons, "Be ready. I will call upon your services again soon."

Mika's struggles became more pronounced when she realized he was intending to leave. It was unacceptable: she could not afford to be alone with him or he would-

There was a rush of air as the elder Uchiha began teleporting. The last she saw of the forest was the falcon's sad, wise eyes as he said, "I am sorry for your loss."

Dimly lit, earthen tunnels welcomed her, causing her heart rate to double. She recognized the material all too well. They were at the northern Akatsuki base, the place where it all began. It seemed fitting that Madara take her there. After all, he started her life of torture there so it only made sense to end it there as well.

The stench of thick, musty, poorly-ventilated corridors flooded her nostrils and she wanted to flee. Except, his grip on her waist would not let her move an inch. So they stood there, silently preparing for the future, Madara with anticipation, but Mika with dread. When he took the first step forward, she whimpered, already knowing the direction he was headed to.

The bedroom.

Vainly, she dug her feels into the ground, yet it only made his haste more apparent. He roughly picked her up, making her yelp in protest. With quickly lengthening strides, he rapidly approached his room.

Nothing was off limits so in a panicked haze, she stabbed him in the eye with her finger. Madara hissed, abruptly dropping her. Pain shot up her spine when she hit the ground unceremoniously. Running on adrenaline, she clambered up and dashed through the hallway. At that point, she knew there was no chance of escape, but she _needed_ to fight, regardless of how pathetic it appeared.

She turned a corner, wondering why she hadn't been captured yet. Mika became even more suspicious when she did not hear the elder Uchiha's angry steps behind her. Darting behind a turn, she stopped and looked back, genuinely confused to see an empty hallway.

Suddenly, a shadow crossed over her and two muscular hands were against the wall on either side of her head. Her eyes flickered to his face and she noticed the impatient scowl on his thin lips.

"How far did you think you were going to get?" he breathed, his hungry eyes trailing along her neck and collar bone. She knew that look far too well and as he drew her closer, the hopelessness sunk in.

Mika closed her eyes when she felt his soft lips close over hers. Though the kiss started out gentle, his lust consumed him and he demanded entrance to her mouth. She clenched her jaw, but when he pressed himself up against her, her focus shifted and her concentration faltered, letting him fulfill his desire. When he broke away, she looked down, grief blossoming on her features.

"I am unwilling. Does that not bother you?" she pleaded, not in the least glad about their reunion.

His eyes hardened, but he didn't say anything so she continued, "I understand you need to punish me for betraying you. Just please don't force your one-sided affection on me."

"One-sided affection!? You are my wife!" he yelled, his deep voice rumbling. Her words dug deep, like a knife being forced into a healing wound. Oh how he hated the effect she had on him. A small, bitter smile from her.

"We are not married."

At that statement he became furious. His handsome features became marred with a deep frown and his Sharingan blazed wildly, threatening to burn a hole through her. The grip on her person became unbearable and she held back a whimper. At such a pivotal moment, she could not afford to show weakness. Madara's answer to her statement was simple and the cruel connotation of his words did not go unmissed.

"Then tonight, you will be my mistress."

The phrase made her flinch. She was used to having him degrade her, but something about that specific choice of words made her feel completely worthless. His mistress- No, he was being polite. He clearly meant his lowly whore.

Pleased by her stunned silence, Madara took the opportunity to pick her up and sling her over his shoulder. Instantly, she snapped into action and struggled for freedom, writhing wildly in his grasp. Out of pure desperation, she pounded on his back with her fists. Of course, the armor prevented him from feeling even the slightest pinch.

As they neared the bedroom, she was down to her last resort. It was a simple tactic, but it was also one she hated. Whenever she used it, she felt demeaned, like she was proving her flaws to everyone. Alas, since her life was on the line, she could bear a wounded pride.

So she screamed. Loudly.

The sound startled Madara, for he has always known her to be a silent fighter. Her pleas for aid echoed off the walls in a hollow, melancholy way. No one returned her call.

Eager to silence her hysterical cries, he kicked the door to the bedroom open and threw her onto the bed. She gasped when she hit the plush surface before bolting up and rolling off the red. He growled at the childishness of her actions and in one swift movement, flipped the bed. It smashed against the wall, stopping to lean against it in a vertical position. Mika lay on the floor, wide eyed at his violent gesture.

Taking a threatening step forward, he sneered, "Your choice. We don't have to use a bed."

She visibly paled as she stumbled to a standing position. To terrify her with suspense, he casually removed his upper armor and discarded it at his feet. That left him in a partially torn black shirt and blood splattered black pants. If the flickering torch was any dimmer, she would have mistaken him for a shadow.

"Your turn," he mocked with a sweeping gesture of his hand. Mika furrowed her brow, weighing her options. It all came down to whether she preferred to undress in front of him or to have him slowly rip her clothing off. Neither choice was desirable so she leaned against the wall behind her.

She slid down and when she was seated, she reasoned, "We are both injured. Don't you think we should take care of our wounds first?"

Looking at her condescendingly, he chuckled and strode forward. Worried, she tensed and watched his every move. This was not the reaction she was hoping for. He stopped a foot in front of her and crouched so they were at eye level. With a villainous smirk, he traced her jaw line with his bloody fingertips. A smeared, crimson line was left on her face.

Suddenly, he jerked her forward by grabbing her throat. When he leaned closer, she could feel his warm breath fanning her neck. Then, in a voice laced with the promise of pain, he whispered, "Don't pretend you care about my well being."

Inhaling slowly, he continued, "You just want to stall the inevitable."

She did not have time to respond because he seized her by the shoulders and shoved her back against the ground. In a flash, he pinned her beneath him and let his lust-filled eyes roam her body. Mika hated how predatory his gaze appeared, for it made her feel like he was going to sprout fangs and tear her organs out at any moment.

"Please Madara, I'm covered in blood and debris," she begged one last time.

That only made his arousal stronger and replied in a silky, masculine tone, "That's alright, I like it dirty."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off with a rough kiss. When he left her out of breath, he sucked on the tender flesh of her neck, leaving red marks in his wake.

Then, he deepened his voice and growled, "I will take you until your throat is sore from screaming my name and you leave bloody scratches on my back."

Her soul sunk and she struggled vainly as he closed over her. His smirk was that of a war god and this was his victory.

_**To be continued...!**_

The end is near! If you have any predictions or hopes for the end I would love to hear them. Is there any hope left for Mika and Madara to be together happily? And what of the war front- do you think Madara is going to become the supreme ruler?


	30. Preview

Finally! An update? ...Not quite.

_**Chapter 30- Preview.**_

The end.

No one knew the apocalypse could be so swift and silent. There was no warning horn and no stark omen of the doom to come. The final act of death was a wave of power, quick as lightning and yet as agonizingly slow as the cruelest torture.

Color bled from the fallen planet, leaving only the shades of failure. The sky itself was a twisted shade of crimson and the sullen clouds flinched away from the murderously potent moon. Its pale, immortal sheen cast a melancholy gleam to all it touched and indeed, there was nothing beyond its reach.

Hollow, soul-less figures marched along a path, their faces devoid of emotion and their minds blocked to reality. They were mere puppets; toys to be moved at the will of their omnipotent lord. These were people once. They had families and passions, but on this new planet, those words held no meaning.

This was the price of peace.

There would never be rebellion, sorrow or tragedy again. But then again, neither would there be joy, love or hope. It was over; the human race was no more. All that was left was an empty shell that was slowly cracking. No one quite knew what would be exposed when this facade would fall and it was not an idea anyone wished to entertain.

A lone castle stood above the desolation of the recent war. This structure was noticeably new, as it shined like gold and its radiance glowed across the land. Within, marvelously decorated furniture and trinkets were laid out, much like a museum of all that used to be. The lush surroundings spoke of great wealth and in fact, this was the collected fortune of all of the former ninja nations. Each day, mindless men and women brought more treasures to the castle, building its bounty to more than anything else observed in history.

On one of the arched balconies, a tall figure with the eyes of a demon stood and overlooked his domain. The entire planet and all within it was his and his alone. Such power was unparalleled and unheard of. It was a shame the blind drones could not understand the horror of the abilities of their leader. The knowledge alone would cripple them with fear and choke them into submission.

Blood-red eyes narrowed at the heavy silence across the land. Was peace supposed to sound so much like death? He straightened his back and his lips curved downward. This planet was his to mold and he would fix any imperfections soon enough. After all, he did have an eternity at his disposal.

"My queen, come outside," he said, his deep tone laced with the pleasure of one of his most treasured possessions.

A lithe female with long brown hair and dull green eyes leaned on the doorway to the balcony. Upon hearing her summon, she stood tall and walked out into the cascading moonlight. Her pale skin was illuminated and on her exposed arms, each of her scars shined in a shade of silver. Aside from the gentle flush on her cheeks, she looked like a ghost. Indeed, she was merely a shadow of the strong, vibrant girl she used to be.

"You called, Madara-sama?" she asked, her voice feather-light. It was void of all the hatred and fear he was so used to hearing.

He motioned for her to come closer and when she did, he wrapped his arms around her. She did not flinch or cry out as she usually did and it brought great pride to him to know that finally, she was completely his.

His eyes returned to the barren landscape before them and as he rested his head on hers, he asked, "What are you thinking about?"

_Killing you. I just want to turn around and rip that smug grin off your face! Get off me you sick __bastard and stop treating me like your damn queen. We both know I am nothing of the sort!_

"I think what you want me to, my lord," she replied and gave him the hint of a smile.

Madara frowned, but did not press any further. He supposed her answer was satisfactory enough. However, he was not finished probing her mind just yet.

"This land, I will make it beautiful again. Tell me what you want me to do. I could plant a forest, mold a garden, create a river, build a city. Anything," he stated and his words were true. With all of his power and resources, nothing was beyond limits.

_Just return it to its previous state. You know, before you went and killed most of the population. And tear down this stupid castle. A 'lord' like you deserves to rot in hell, not create paradise. _

"Madara-sama, you know better than I do what would make the land most beautiful," his quiet wife responded, making him suppress a sigh. He knew she was controlled by the moon now, but he had hoped she would at least retain her ability to have an opinion. The old Mika would be brimming with emotion at this point.

His eyes narrowed darkly and his tone lost its warmth: "Tell me, what is left of you?"

_Everything! I hate you more than ever before and damn it, the second you turn your back I will murder you with my own hands! Stop this puppet idiocy and let me tell you exactly what is left of me! How dare you take away my control of my own body!_

Blank green eyes met his churning red ones as she said, "I do not understand the question."

Her statement only made his black soul even blacker. This was not his wife and he had no purpose to keep a petty replacement of her. If there was nothing left of her, he no longer needed her. After all, he had an entire world of women to chose from.

"Give me one good reason not to rid my planet of you," he said harshly.

_What the hell is wrong with you!? You went through all this trouble to make me your mindless puppet and now you want me dead!? You are one sick son of a bitch. ...Damn it! Let. Me. Speak!_

"You own me, Madara-sama. If you wish me gone, I will not object," her body answered, making the real Mika livid. It wasn't fair! If only she could say what was on her mind.

A heavy silence passed between the couple as the Uchiha pondered his choices and the traitorous ninja struggled to get her body under control. Her life was in his hands and it drove her to hysterics to know that there was nothing she could do to stop him.

The infinitesimal, downward turn of his lips was the only warning as he grabbed her by the shoulders and pinned her to the wall behind them. He towered over her and grabbed her wrists, restricting any further movement. It was a usual position for them; their eternal power struggle was dancing on the cusp of insanity.

Her reaction was mundane. All she did was stare up at him with those passive, emotionless eyes. His resolve did not falter, rather, his belief that this was no longer his Mika was reinforced.

"You are nothing," he hissed at her, but in reality, he was only angry at himself. He had made her into this monstrosity, this pathetic excuse for a ninja. It was all his fault. Unfortunately, the great Uchiha Madara would never be able to admit that.

_You think I am nothing!? Look at yourself! You are a disgrace to the ninja world! You took a wonderful nation and marred it with your twisted mind. This is not peace- this is hell! You delusional fool-_

His hand was at her throat.

"It was not supposed to turn out like this," he said, a tinge of regret in his tone.

"You used to be perfect. You were the one woman I wanted to spend the rest of my existence with, but now..." he trailed off and his grip tightened ever so slightly.

_So you are finally going to kill me? ...How merciful of you. You tortured me for years and turned me into a cold blooded murderer. And now, when I'm suddenly not good enough, you're going to throw me away like we haven't spent the last nine years together. I should have known you were incapable of loving me._

"I have upset you, my lord. Please forgive my insolence and tell me how I may correct myself," the robot spoke, infuriating both arguing parties.

Madara's Sharingan blazed angrily and he choked her, watching with mild pleasure as she struggled to stay alive. He was so close. At last, he would kill the foolish woman he had... fallen in love with.

It looked like it was all over, _until the moon set behind the horizon_.

Her free hand grabbed the one that was suffocating her and her face come alight with a rage that was unlike anything he had ever seen. She forced her emotionally-charged chakra into his arm and it was like a jolt. Anger, regret and determination radiated from her very being, causing him to let go of her and narrow his eyes.

"How dare you!?" she yelled and he recognized her instantly. It was Mika- _his_ Mika.

"You sick bastard! Torture me, fine. Rape me, fine. But what the hell is this cowardly puppet shit!?" she swore and spat on the ground, two gestures she only used when she was especially enraged.

Seeing her so charged with emotion made his tiny, shriveled heart warm and he took a step forward, eager to embrace her and kiss her. She put her hands in front of her and jumped back, closer to the balcony.

"Don't touch me," she hissed and continued backing away while frantically trying to figure out what she could do. Her back touched the balcony rail and she drew in an uneven breath.

"I've missed you," he said, his voice husky with lust. Mika swallowed cautiously, for she knew the look in his eyes too well. This was going to end badly for her if she didn't find a way to diffuse his misguided emotions.

Quick as lightning, she jumped onto the rail of the balcony and used the chakra in her feet to keep her balance. From the corner of her eye, she could see the barren wasteland Madara had created. The deformity stretched across continents, leaving nothing in its wake but mindless drones. Even the animals were helpless to the effects of the genjutsu.

There was no hope.

Mika gave Madara one last glance as she said, "I will not give you the satisfaction of killing me."

She closed her eyes and before he could do anything, she leaned back. Her feet lost contact with the railing and she was falling...

Darkness engulfed her and she was gone.

_Falling..._

She had no regrets, for this was her freedom.

_Falling..._

Until she hit the ground.

Her eyes snapped open, she drew in a strangled breath and she struggled when she realized that something was holding her down. She could not see anything but a faint orange glow on earthen walls. Was this hell?

The next thing she registered was the pain. It pierced her and tore her to pieces, making her freeze and lay still in disbelief. Her head throbbed, she could not feel her arms, and the region between her legs ached terribly.

No...!

Memories rushed back to her and as her eyes adjusted, she wanted to cry in despair. She was lying on the dirty floor in Madara's bedroom in the northern Akatsuki base. Her wounds were still fresh and she was in a pool of her own blood. Worst of all, her torturer was still in the room.

Right on top of her.

Satisfied crimson eyes met her terrified ones and she could barely breathe as he straddled her, pinning her arms above her head. His gaze trailed over her bruised, naked body and he smiled. He was the proud creator of each of her wounds.

"You look beautiful," he whispered and kissed her forcefully.

"I cannot wait until the day I will be able to make you my queen," he continued, causing her eyes to widen in the wake of her recent nightmare.

There was no freedom.

_**To be continued...!**_

Yes. That's right. The main purpose of this 'update' is for this ridiculously long author's note. Feel free to kick me. I know I deserve it.

It is with great regret that I am forced to say that I am now putting Falling To Darkness on _**hiatus**_. Again. There are two reasons for this unfortunate turn of events:

1. Midterms. What more can I say? I am waist-deep in a pile of over-expensive textbooks and, like all other university students, I am attempting to juggle sleeping and studying. Needless to say, I am terrible at juggling.

2. The plot of this story and I have been fighting extensively for weeks now. Just when I think I have everything ironed out, I realize I missed something or misrepresented the situation. The last chapter is coming up and it _must_ be perfect.

The problem is that I do not know how to properly represent the tragedy of the characters' lives. What I find heart-breaking might be every-day for someone else. More specifically, is it more horrible for Mika to be forced to live with Madara for the rest of her life or is it worse for her to die? And as for Madara- if it worse for him to die after being so close to his goal or will it be so much more unfortunate for the world if he managed to become the supreme ruler?

Plus, the lose ends are driving me up the wall. Sasuke. Naruto. Orochi-pedo. They are important to the plot, but it is difficult to weave all of their lives together while also keeping in line with what is happening to the main characters.

I apologize for this idiotic rant. You probably think I should just suck it up and pull another chapter out of my ass. Well, I am forced to admit my limitations and I will not allow myself to publish something that does not hold up to my standards.

Thus, for all of you who have been patiently waiting, I bow my head in shame. Your continued support and understanding means the world to me. This community is wonderful. I have never felt this accepted before. So, I hope to repay you all with an amazing final chapter, whenever that will be. Thank you!

For now, I ask for your help in regards to the definition of tragedy. What would be more horrific- the death of Mika, Madara or both of them? Which situation/scenario would make your heart clench the most?


End file.
